


Makoto's Bizarre Adventure: Lucky Hope

by muk854



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc, Super Dangan Ronpa 2, ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 | JoJo no Kimyou na Bouken | JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
Genre: Almost everyone has a Stand, F/M, Makoto is a badass at times, Naegiri - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pre-Despair (Dangan Ronpa)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-12
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2020-10-14 22:31:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 47,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20608403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muk854/pseuds/muk854
Summary: Makoto Naegi, the Ultimate Lucky Student of Class 78, is about as normal as you can get. At least, that's what people think when they see him. In truth, Makoto has a secret that makes him far from normal. And after some recent events, he's gonna have to use it to keep those close to him safe. Things have gotten really bizarre for Makoto.





	1. A Luckster's Start

**Author's Note:**

> So my first story here on AO3 is my most recent story on Fanfiction. I kind of wanted more readers to read this story so I figured why not also upload it here.
> 
> Now for some reason, with me liking both Danganronpa and Jojo's, my mind just came up with the idea of giving some of the characters in Danganronpa Stands, which was how this came into fruition.
> 
> So without further ado, enjoy.

Hope's Peak Academy. A school for students who are the best of what they do. If you were to graduate from here, you would be set for life. Most students, or Ultimates as they are called, were scouted by Hope's Peak themselves. But for a few select cases, they got in via a lottery draw. Those who were chosen by this case were the Ultimate Lucky Student. And this was the case for the luckster of Class 78, Makoto Naegi.

Amidst the other Ultimates of his class, Makoto was probably the most average kid you have ever seen. And even though he was the Ultimate Lucky Student, he was known for being very unlucky instead of lucky. Really, the only think Makoto had going for him was his optimism, which his classmates agree on.

Right now the school day had just ended for Class 78 and most of them were just hanging out in the classroom socializing with each other. In the back of the classroom, Makoto was seen by himself writing in his notebook. In his left hand, he was rolling something in it absentmindedly as he wrote.

"What're you doing Makoto?" somebody asked him. He looked up to see Sayaka Maizona, the Ultimate Pop Sensation, smiling at him.

"Oh hey Sayaka, nothing much really," he answered.

Sayaka nodded at his answer before noticing the object in his hand, "Hey, what are you holding?"

"Oh this, nothing special really," he said as he opened his hand, revealing he was holding an orange d20 die.  
"Oh Makoto I didn't know you played tabletop games too," Sayaka said.

"Not much but I do some D&D from time to...wait too?" Makoto inquired.

"The girls in my group are kind of fans of it," Sayaka answers, "They sort of got me into it."

"Huh, didn't really take you for someone who's into those kinds of games Sayaka," Makoto said.

As he continued talking he noticed as Kyoko Kirigiri, the Ultimate Detective, left the room in a hurry. Makoto noticed how she looked frustrated when she left.

"Excuse me Sayaka, I have to go now," Makoto said as he gathered his stuff.

"Oh, are you going to see why Kyoko is frustrated?" Sayaka inquired.

"How'd you know?" he asked

"As I said before, I'm psychic," Sayaka said with a serious look before giggling, "Just kidding, I just have good intuition."

Makoto laughed a bit at her running joke before he excused himself and exited the classroom. He ran over to where Kyoko was as she proceeded to walk towards the exit of the school. "Hey Kyoko wait up," he called out to her.

Kyoko stopped and turned around towards him, "Yes Makoto?"

"I just noticed that you looked a bit frustrated when you were leaving class," Makoto explained, "Is everything alright?"

"Everything is fine Makoto," she assured, "Just that my current case is turning out to be more exhausting than I at first thought it would."

"Oh, what's the problem?" he asked.

"Recently there has been a string of robberies at various jewelry stores across the city," she explained, "At each robbery, there has been one thing in common, at every store that has been robbed an employee has been killed, with their blood being used to paint a four-leaf clover on the wall. Because of this, the police have given him the name of Bloody Clover."

Makoto paled from hearing what the killer does with their victims as Kyoko continued, "What's frustrating is that Bloody Clover is clever, they leave no clue of who they are aside from their signature. But I think we may have hit a break in the case."

"How?" Makoto asked.

"Recently a possible associate of Bloody Clover was recently arrested and taken in for questioning, I was about to make my way to where he's being held to interrogate them," Kyoko explained, "So if you excuse me Makoto, I must be going."

Normally Makoto would just let her go and wait for her to come back from a case. That was how it usually went between him and the detective. But for some reason Makoto had a bad feeling about this particular case, and that something bad could happen if Kyoko was left on her own.

"Kyoko wait, let me come with you," he requested.

She looked at the luckster with both shock and confusion on her face, "Why do you want to come?"

"I just want to try and help in any way I can," he explained.

"No offense Makoto, but I don't think you'll be able to provide any assistance with this case," she said blatantly.

"You're probably right, but still," he started, gaining a serious expression, "I got a bad feeling about this case. It's probably nothing, but if there's any way I can help I want to."

Kyoko was left absolutely stunned at his words. She has never seen Makoto this serious about something before. She quickly got over her shock before she spoke, "Even though I still think you'll be of much help, if you wish to join me I won't stop you."  
"Thank you, Kyoko," he smiled as he followed her out of Hope's Peak.  
\---  
Both Makoto and Kyoko were staring through a one-way mirror into an interrogation room where a man that looked to be in his early 40's was sitting by himself. Beside them was a policeman who was looking through a file.

"After looking through CCTV footage of each store we noticed that this guy has been seen at all of them a day before the store was robbed," the policeman said before giving the file to Kyoko for her to read, "His name is Matsuda Taheiji. Guy has a record, we believe he's an accomplice for Bloody Clover."

"How are you sure he's not Bloody Clover himself?" Makoto asked.

"Because he's not one to get his hands dirty himself," Kyoko answered as she went through the file, "His record shows that every time he's been arrested was because he always assisted someone else in their crimes. Always getting information for them, no reason for him to change his style."

"If we can get him to tell us about who Bloody Clover is, we'll be able to apprehend them," the policeman said.

"And that's where I come into play," Kyoko said as she closed the file and handed it to Makoto, "I'll be starting the interrogation now." She exited the room before she was seen entering the interrogation room and sitting right in front of Matsuda.

"Huh, didn't expect them to call in the Ultimate Detective for me, I guess I should feel honored," Matsuda said with a smirk.

"You can keep acting confident all you want, it doesn't change the fact that after this you'll be going away for a while," Kyoko said.

"Can't be that long, all I did was give information. I didn't actually kill anyone."

"No, but the person who you gave the information to did, which makes you guilty for accessory in murder," Kyoko stated, "Since you give information, how about you give me the information on Bloody Clover and maybe we can lessen your sentence a bit."

"A bit? Maybe if all my charges were dropped I might be interested," Matsuda said, "But even so you should know that I never rat out my employer."

As the interrogation went on, Makoto and the policeman just watched as Kyoko wasn't making Matsuda budge at all. "Man, this guy sure is stubborn, and here I was hoping we could finally end this case," the policeman said.

Makoto, thinking there must be some leverage on Matsuda, looked through the file he was given. He was looking for anything, anything at all that might give them the upper hand on him. That was when he saw it, the key piece of information they needed.

As he closed the file, Kyoko came back in with a furious look on him, "Nothing, he just won't rat out Bloody Clover."

"Looks like we're back to square one," the policeman sighed.

"Actually," Makoto said getting their attention, "Let me try talking to him, I think I can get him to talk."

"Makoto that's absurd, that man is about as stubborn as Byakuya," Kyoko stated, "Nothing will get through to him."

"Just give me a chance, I think I can pull it off," he requested.

Kyoko sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "If you are so sure then go ahead, but I doubt it'll be much success."

Makoto thanked her as he exited the room. "You think that boy will get him to talk?" the policeman asked.

"Makoto has pulled off some surprised before, but I don't think he stands a chance here," Kyoko said.

Outside the interrogation room, Makoto took a deep breath before reaching into his pocket for something, pulling out the orange d20 die he had out earlier. "I will interrogate Matsuda Tahejii for any information on Bloody Clover," he said as he dropped the die. It landed on the ground and rolled a bit before it stopped, landing on 16.

Makoto smirked before picking up the die, putting it back in his pocket, and entering the interrogation room. Matsuda looked up at the room before laughing as Makoto sat down.

"You have got to be kidding me after the Ultimate Detective failed to make me talk they send a runt like you," he laughed before calming down, "Man the police have lost their edge. While as I told that detective girl I ain't saying anything and I'll be waiting for my lawyer."

"That's a shame, that means you'll be going away full time, which with all that your employer has done will be a very long time," Makoto said calmly as he opened the file.

"Kid trust me I've been in jail for a long time, it's not anything I'm not used to," Matsuda said.

"Maybe not to you, but what about your daughter?" Makoto asked getting Matsuda's attention.

"What?"

"Your daughter, Fukui Taheiji," Makoto responded as he put down of a photo of a five year old girl in front of Matsuda, "According to your file you were clean for a while shortly after she was born. I guess things aren't doing so good for you to get back to crime."

As he talked, Matsuda picked up the photo of his daughter, tears welling up in his eyes. "I wonder how she'll feel when she finds out her daddy won't be coming home for a long, long time." Makoto paused as he let his words think into Matsuda, tears falling down his eyes.

"If you tell us what we need to know, we can lighten your sentence so you can see her sooner. How does that sound?" Makoto asked.

A minute passed before Matsuda finally spoke, "Look, I honestly don't know his name, or what he looks like. He calls me on the phone when he wants me to scout a place out for him all I know is that he's a guy. But I do know where he keeps the stuff he steals." Makoto signaled for Matsuda to continue, "It's an old abandoned warehouse at the docks, Warehouse 16. That's where he stashes the jewels, I go there to collect my cut and I remember seeing a sort of makeshift bed, I guess that's where he hides out too."

Suddenly the door opened and the policeman walked in with a paper and pen which he handed to Matsuda. "If you can write all that down here and assuming all of it is true, we can work out a deal from there," he informed.

Matsuda nodded as he started to write on the paper. The policeman then looked over at Makoto, "Didn't think you could get him to talk, not bad kid."

"It's nothing really, glad I could help," Makoto said as he exited the room. Outside the interrogation room, Kyoko was waiting for him, looking at him intensely which got him a bit nervous.

"I am impressed Makoto, I had my doubts but you seemed to have greatly surpassed them," she commented, a small smile forming on her face.

"Thanks, as I looked through his file and saw that he had a daughter I figured we could use that as leverage," Makoto said.

"Well it seemed to have work, I'll be going to the warehouse he talked about and hopefully apprehend Bloody Clover," Kyoko said, much to Makoto's shock.

"Wait are you serious, but the police can handle it from here, can't they?" Makoto asked.

"This was a case I was assigned, I intend to see it to the end."

"But are you sure that's a good idea, you could get hurt or worse," Makoto said, fear for Kyoko's safety in his voice.

"I'll be fine, I can take care of myself," she stated.

"Well if you're serious about this, then I'm going with you," Makoto said.

"That is unacceptable, just because you got lucky here doesn't mean you're ready for something like this," she retorted. Before Makoto could say anything she continued, "I am not risking your safety, I'm going alone and that's final."

Kyoko walked off, leaving Makoto just there on his own. However, Makoto knew what he was going to do. Despite Kyoko's words, Makoto plans on going to the warehouse. He knew something bad will happen if she went in alone, so whether she likes it or not, he's going with her.

He took out the d20 from his pocket to give it a good look. "I hope luck will be on my side tonight," he said as he made his way towards the exit.  
\---  
By the time Kyoko had arrived at the dock, it was already late at night. The only noises that could be heard were the waves crashing onto the dock. She made her way through as she looked for Warehouse 16. Unbeknownst to her, Makoto was following her from behind. He kept a fair distance from Kyoko so that she wouldn't be able to spot him.

Kyoko eventually found a warehouse that looked very much abandoned compared to the other warehouses in the area. The number 16 was written above the door and she knew this was the one. She then took out a pistol she had strapped to her waist and quietly opened the door before going inside.

The door started to close on its own and Makoto rushed to get in before it fully closes, taking out the d20 die as he ran. "I get into the warehouse and continue to follow Kyoko without alerting her," he said before throwing it, the die rolling inside the warehouse. Makoto was able to get in just as the door closed, luckily without making a noise.

He looked down to see the die on the floor and winced when he saw it landed on an 8. "That's not going to be good for me," he said quietly as he picked up the die and continued on. He looked around to see the warehouse had a bunch of crates everywhere. There were iron chains hanging from the ceiling and a second level could be seen as well.

Makoto quickly hid behind a stack of crates when he had caught up to Kyoko, who was inspecting one of the crates. She then noticed a crowbar laying right beside it and she picked it up. Kyoko then used the crowbar to pry open the crate and once it did, she lifted the lid off to see it was filled with a whole bunch of jewels.

"Looks like Matsuda was telling the truth, this is where Bloody Clover keeps his stash," she said out loud as she inspected the jewels, "But no sign of Bloody Clover himself, there should be a clue on him around here somewhere."

When Makoto looked over to keep an eye on Kyoko, he heard a squeak coming from his left. He turned around to see a rat looking at him with its beady eyes. "Oh no," he said, knowing this would not end well for him.

The rat hissed before lunging at Makoto, who screamed in surprise as he tried to get the rat off of him. He stepped and fell back onto the stack of crates he was hiding behind, causing them to fall down and crush under Makoto's weight. Kyoko turned around to see Makoto continuing his fight with the rat. Eventually, the rat lost interest in Makoto and scurried away. Makoto got up and dusted himself off before slowly turning around to see Kyoko glaring at him.

"Um… hey," he said nervously.

"What are you doing here?" she asked angrily, a hint of venom in her voice, "I thought I told you not to come."

"I know and I'm sorry, but I just couldn't let you come here on your own," Makoto explained.

"I told you I can take care of myself," Kyoko retorted, "You don't have any experience for situations like this, it's too dangerous for you."

"I know but I just couldn't stand it if you got hurt in any way."

"How do you think I would feel if you got hurt, or worse?!" she exclaimed.

Makoto was left stunned by her outburst, not sure how to respond. As he stood there, Kyoko noticed something moving behind him. Something, or someone, that looked to be aiming something at Makoto. "Makoto watch out!" she warned before quickly pushing Makoto aside just as the perpetrator fired what it was aiming.

Next thing Kyoko knew, she had an arrow impaling her right shoulder. She was knocked down to the ground, gripping her shoulder in pain, blood coming out from the wound where the arrow was still impaled in.

"Kyoko!" Makoto exclaimed in worry as he ran up to her. He noticed the arrow that was implanted in her shoulder was bronze with a hole near the point of it.

"Hmm, I was hoping to get you with that but it seems your friend took the hit or you instead," the one who shot the arrow said, causing Makoto to turn to them. They started to walk towards him, slowly revealing themselves from the shadows, "You don't have to worry about her though, she may pass out from blood loss but she'll live. Can't say the same about you, however."

"Who are you?" Makoto asked with both fear and anger in his voice.

"Oh, you forgot about me, that's sad considering I never forgot about you, Makoto Naegi," they said as they were now completely out of the shadows. The person was an adult male looking to be in his thirties, glaring menacingly at Makoto. In his hand was an old-looking bow, but that's not what Makoto was looking at right now. He gasped when he saw the man's face, recognizing it from some time ago.

"You're Jutaro Akafuku," Makoto said in shock.

"Oh so you do remember me," Jutaro smiled, "Good, it'll make killing you all the much sweeter."

"But how are you here, you should be dead," Makoto inquired, "I saw in the news that you killed yourself in jail a month ago."

"It wasn't easy but I was able to fake my death thanks to a little outside help," Jutaro explained, "But that doesn't concern you now. What should concern you though, is me."

"I have never forgotten about you, how you ruined everything for me on that day, you and your accursed luck!" Jutaro said angrily, his hand gripping the bow tightly, "I had gotten out of situations where I should've been captured or killed flawlessly until you came along."

"Once I got out of jail, I thought I could return to my life as a simple jewel thief, but you never left my mind for even a second. It even started to affect my crimes, I never killed anyone until now. Every time I just imagined it was you I was killing," Jutaro said with a smile on his face, "The whole time I was Bloody Clover, all I could think about was getting my revenge on you. And now, I finally can."

Suddenly, a large gray arm could be seen coming out of Jutaro that had an iron chain wrapped around it. The chain started to move before is lashed out towards Makoto, who managed to roll away before it could hit him.

"That was-" Makoto said before Jutaro cut him off.

"You saw that? Are you kidding me," Jutaro said in anger as the chain retracted back and the arm disappeared, "Just when I thought I could easily kill you, you just had to be a Stand User as well!"

Makoto looked over at Kyoko, who had passed out but still breathing. "Just hang in there Kyoko," he said to himself before he stood up and looked at Jutaro with a serious expression, "It's just as you say Jutaro, I'm a Stand User too."

Jutaro's expression only got more enraged as he tossed the bow he was holding aside, "So on that day, when I got arrested, it was because of your Stand!"

"I guess you can say that. I didn't even know about it until after you got arrested," Makoto replied.

"So you're telling me that I was foiled because of your Stand and you didn't even know about it," Jutaro said, gritting his teeth in anger, "That just makes me want to kill you even more!" Jutaro took a step towards Makoto, glaring daggers at the luckster, "Fine then, if you can see my Stand then I might as well show it to you. Behold my Stand, First Chain!"

A tall humanoid figure suddenly appeared right beside Jutaro. It was about as tall as Jutaro himself and its skin was a grayish tone. Both of First Chain's arms were thick and each one had an iron chain wrapped around it. On the Stand's back were two small wrecking balls. Makoto looked a bit concerned at the sight of this Stand.

"Scared? You should be, with my Stand's powers I will finally get my revenge on you Makoto Naegi!" Jutaro exclaimed as First Chain held one of its arms out. The chains around it started to move and once again lashed out towards Makoto.

Once again Makoto managed to dodge the chain, but he didn't have time to react when First Chain's other arm lashed out its chains. They wrapped around Makoto tightly as he was lifted into the air. The chains tossed Makoto away and he hit the wall hard and fell on the floor. He coughed out a bit of blood before standing up again.

He saw Jutaro walking towards him and Makoto ran away while taking out the d20 die. "I manage to get out of Jutaro's sights when I evade his next attack," he said as he tossed the die in front of him. When it stopped rolling, it landed on 15 and Makoto quickly picked it up just as First Chain launched its chains at him again.

Makoto was able to get behind some crates just as the chains were coming towards him. The crates were destroyed and as Jutaro walked over to inspect it, he didn't see any sign of Makoto. He cursed to himself as he shouted, "You can run Makoto, but you can't hide forever!"

Makoto was hiding behind a steel beam as he looked to see Jutaro had his back towards him. Makoto looked around for anything he can use when he noticed some crates lined up like a staircase leading to one of the chains hanging from the ceiling. He suddenly had a crazy idea as he ran towards the crates.

"I climb the crates and swing on the chain onto the second level flawlessly," he said as he threw the die onto the second level. Makoto started to run up the crates and jumped towards the chain. He grabbed hold of it as he swung towards the second level. Once he got close enough he let go of the chain and landed on the platform. However, it wasn't flawless as he hoped and he ended up tripping when he landed.

He groaned in pain looked up to see the die he threw landed on 10, "Good enough I guess."

"There you are!" Makoto heard Jutaro shout and barely managed to scramble away before the chains could grab him, grabbing the die as he did so. "You know, it's really angering me how you are just avoiding my Stand and not fighting with yours! Are you seriously that much of a coward?!"

Makoto ignored his words as he kept running from First Chain's attacks. As he ran he noticed a stack of crates coming up that were next to the edge of the platform just above Jutaro. Makoto then got an idea, "I push the crates off the platform and they fall directly on Jutaro." He tossed the die right in front of the crates and it landed on 19, causing a smirk to grow on Makoto's face.

He ran to where the crates were and with all his strength, shoved them off the platform. Jutaro looked up to see the crates coming towards him and he quickly summoned First Chain to cover him. The crates landed on top of him, and there was no movement coming from them.

Makoto sighed in relief as he picked up the d20 die. Just before he could look for a way down however, the rubble started to move and a chain launched from out of it. It wrapped itself on a nearby railing and before Makoto knew it, Jutaro was being pulled out of the rubble towards the platform, First Chain right beside him. He landed on the platform right in front of Makoto, the chain unwrapping itself from the railing and returning to First Chain.

"I've just about had it with you," he said, malice being heard in his voice, "If you refuse to use your stand against me, then I'll just kill you here and now!" First Chain's chains started to move as they reached towards it's back. Each chain attached itself to the wrecking ball's on the back as they were pulled off and crashed onto the floor.

"Die, you damn brat!" Jutaro shouted as First Chain heaved one it's wrecking balls at Makoto. He barely had time to react as he jumped back, the wrecking ball crushing the floor he was just beneath and making a hole onto the platform.

The wrecking ball was pulled back towards First Chain as Jutaro glared at Makoto. "I hope you know, that once I finish with you, your girlfriend over there is next," he said as he pointed to the unconscious body of Kyoko.

Makoto's eyes widened at Jutaro's statement before he just glared in anger, "Not unless I take you down now." He stood up, staring straight at Jutaro, "You claim I'm not using my Stand, but you're wrong. I've been using it this entire time." He then held out the d20 die for Jutaro to see, "This die is my Stand, Lucky Number."

"That's your Stand, and what's it supposed to do?" Jutaro asked mockingly.

"Let's just say with it the world around me is like a game of D&D," Makoto explained, "Whenever I say an action I wish to do I roll Lucky Number, and whether or not I achieve that action is determined by what it lands on."

"So your power is based entirely on luck," Jutaro laughed, "That's useless your luck won't be able to save you from me." First Chain started to move its arms as it prepared to attack again.

"We'll see about that," Makoto said as he breathed deeply and got ready for his next action. "I will jump over the first wrecking ball and manage to evade the second one before landing a solid punch on Jutaro," he said, tossing the die just as First Chain attacked.

To Jutaro's shock, Makoto ran towards the attack, a determined expression on his face as he did. As the first wrecking ball got close, Makoto managed to successfully jump over it, the wrecking ball crashing underneath him. Makoto landed on it just as the second wrecking ball came his way, jumping on the one he was on to completely evade it. Jutaro gasped as the boy's evasion of his attack, too stunned to notice Makoto coming right at him before his fist punched Jutaro's face, knocking him back a bit.  
He held the spot where Makoto punched him in pain, cursing himself for allowing him to get hit. "You got lucky that time kid, but it won't happen again!"

"Don't be so sure, you already lost the battle," Makoto said before pointing at the ground, "Take a look at what Lucky Number landed on."

Jutaro looked to where Makoto was pointing at to see that the die was right in front of the boy, which had landed on 20, "So what?"

"There's another power of my Stand I didn't mention," Makoto said before the die suddenly disappeared, "If I ever land a 20 on a roll, not only will the action I said happen flawlessly, but Lucky Number's true form appears."

Before Jutaro could ask what he meant, another Stand appeared right beside Makoto. The Stand was metallic and humanoid and about as tall as Makoto and was orange in color. For the Stand's shoulders, they resembled slots on a slot machine. On its chest, it had the symbol for each suit in Poker etched on it, and its eyes resembled Poker chips. The arms were thin but it had dice on the hands for knuckles.

"Wh-what is that?!" Jutaro exclaimed.

"This is the true form of my Stand, Lucky Number," Makoto explained, "This is what I will use to defeat you Jutaro."

Jutaro got over his shock and glared at Makoto, "Don't get cocky kid! First Chain!" Jutaro's stand was summoned as it hurled one of it's wrecking balls towards Makoto.

Once again Makoto ran towards it, Lucky Number following him, "I roll under the wrecking ball and land an uppercut on him." In Lucky Number's hand, a d20 appeared before it was thrown. Makoto then managed to roll under the wrecking ball and appearing right under Jutaro. Before Jutaro had a chance to react, Lucky Number landed a strong uppercut on Jutaro's chain, sending him flying off the platform.

Jutaro landed on the wreckage of crates beneath them, groaning in pain as he spat out blood. "How, there's no way he rolled a 20 twice in a row?" Jutaro asked.

"Oh but I did," Makoto said as he leaped off the platform, Lucky Number appearing just as he landed allowing Makoto to not get injured, "Whenever Lucky Number's true form is out, I will always roll a 20. Like I said Jutaro, you already lost this battle."

"No," Jutaro let out as he tried to stand up, "No, I won't lose."

"Let me tell you some things about me Jutaro," Makoto said before Lucky Number moved towards Jutaro and landed a right hook on him which sent him back a distance, "Among the other Ultimates in my class at Hope's Peak, I'm probably the most normal. And despite me being the Ultimate Lucky Student, my luck isn't usually so good."

Jutaro summoned First Chain to attack Makoto, but Lucky Number punched it before it could, causing Jutaro to lose a tooth as Makoto continued walking towards him as he talked, "Really the only thing I have going for me is my optimism."

Lucky Number landed some more hits on Jutaro and First Chain and sent him crashing into the wall. Makoto stood in front of him, "However, one thing I care for a lot is my friends. And if anyone ever tried to hurt them, I will protect them at all costs. The moment you had shot that arrow at Kyoko, that was when you already lost."

"Damn you," Jutaro said, "Damn you Makoto Naegi!" First Chain appeared and launched its chain at Makoto, but he simply just sidestepped away from it as Lucky Number grabbed the chain.

"It's over," Makoto said as Lucky Chain pulled the chain towards itself, which also pulled First Chain and Jutaro closer to him. Right into Lucky Number's fist, as it unleashed a barrage of punches on both Stand and Stand User.

"SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA! _SAGA!!!!!!_"

With one last punch, Lucky Number sent Jutaro, who was now a bloody pulp, flying with enough force to go through the wall. Before Jutaro landed on the floor Makoto brought a hand up to his face, his thumb and middle finger pressed together.

"Sagatte (stay down)," he said, snapping his fingers as Jutaro landed on the floor, completely unconscious.

The Stand user of First Chain, Jutaro Akafuku, has been beaten to a pulp and unable to move. He retires!

As Makoto looked at Jutaro's body he quickly remembers something else, "Kyoko!" He ran back inside the warehouse to where Kyoko was still unconscious. He quickly put two of his fingers to her neck and was relieved to still feel a pulse. He looked over at her injury only to be surprised to see that the arrow was out, now laying beside Kyoko's body.

What surprised him even more was that there was no sign that she was ever impaled by the arrow except for the hole in her jacket where she was shot. The wound was completely healed. "What happened?" he asked himself.

He picked up the arrow to inspect it when he heard noises from outside. He immediately summoned Lucky Number, who was still in his true form, to protect them when he soon heard sirens. He sighed in relief, knowing that the police are here now when Kyoko started to move.

He looked over to see Kyoko waking up, "Kyoko, you ok?"

Kyoko looked up at Makoto, relieved that he wasn't hurt when she remembered they weren't alone, "Makoto, where's-"

"I took care of him," Makoto explained before she could finish, "Bloody Clover is outside unconscious, we're safe."

Kyoko wasn't sure how Makoto was able to take care of a serial killer before her eyes widened at something else. "Makoto, what's that?" she asked pointing right behind Makoto.

He looked over to where she was pointing only to see she was pointing right at Lucky Number. "Wait, you can see it?" he asked before dispersing Lucky Number.

Before she could react to it disappearing, the police came barged into the warehouse. Makoto quickly hid the arrow in his jacket, thinking he'll need to check it out later, just as the policeman from back in the interview asked what happened.

Kyoko quickly got out of her stupor as she explained as much as she could. However, all Makoto could think about the whole time was how Kyoko was able to see Lucky Number. She shouldn't be able to unless… Makoto's eyes widened at the revelation.

Kyoko Kirigiri was now a Stand User.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's talk about the Stands that were in this chapter shall we.
> 
> Starting off with First Chain, it's power is pretty simple. It can control the chains on its arms which allow it to attack enemies or be used as a way to move around. The wrecking balls on its back can be attached to the chains for more damage. Its name is based on the 2013 song First Chain by Big Sean.
> 
> Now with Makoto's Stand, Lucky Number, I will explain more on how it works in the next chapter. Just know that it practically turns the world around the user into a game of D&D. Its name is a reference to the 1978 song Lucky Number by Lene Lovich.


	2. Taste of Despair

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After his battle with Jutaro and the revelation of how Kyoko is now a Stand User, Makoto encounters something and is met with a bit of despair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Didn't expect to get the second chapter finished so quickly but here it is.
> 
> So without further ado, enjoy.

After the ordeal that had happened at Warehouse 16, both Makoto and Kyoko were taken to the hospital for any injuries they may have sustained. With Makoto, he had suffered from a bruised rib when Jutaro threw him against the wall. Kyoko, on the other hand, was a particularly different case. When the doctor examined her, they didn’t find any external injuries but had found signs of previous trauma on her shoulder. But aside from that, she was perfectly fine.

Jutaro on the other hand, wasn’t. When the police brought him in, he was barely alive. Most of his bones had been broken, one of his lungs was ruptured, and his face was barely recognizable anymore. When the police asked how he got like this, Makoto simply responded with, “I fought back.” Admittedly, Makoto did feel he might’ve gone too far, but in his defense, Jutaro hurt Kyoko so to Makoto he deserved it. While the doctors were able to keep him alive, Jutaro had suffered so much damage to the head that he’ll be in a coma for who knows how long, which is just fine with Makoto.

Despite the doctors saying they were ok, they decided to keep both Makoto and Kyoko at the hospital overnight just to keep an eye on them. Currently, both of them were resting in the same room with separate beds. None of them had said a word to each other since they got in the hospital, they just sat there in awkward silence.

To Makoto, the silence was more painful than awkward, thinking that Kyoko was still mad at him for following her to the docks when she told him not to. He doesn’t blame her though, it was his fault that she got hit with the arrow.

There was a good chance that the trust she had in him was over because of this, something that Makoto wouldn’t know how to deal with. When he first met Kyoko, she rarely interacted with anyone in their class, wanting nothing to do with them. Despite this, Makoto persisted on getting her top open up to them, often inviting her to class events and gatherings.

Eventually his persistence paid off, with her finally accepting joining them to a movie night suggested by Hina. Since then Kyoko has started to open up more and more to the rest of her class, especially towards Makoto. He honestly considers Kyoko his best friend, but now he’s afraid that these recent events have put an end to that.

“Hey Kyoko,” he finally said, causing Kyoko to look over at him, “I’m really sorry for everything that has happened.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“If I actually listened to you, and didn’t follow you, you probably wouldn’t have gotten hurt,” he said, guilt in his voice, “It was because of me that you got hurt and I understand if you’re mad at me and-”

“I’m not mad,” she interrupted calmly, causing Makoto to look at her in confusion.

“You’re not?”

“No, not anymore anyway,” she admitted before continuing, “I will admit I was furious when you followed me, but that was mostly because I was worried for your safety.”

“Also, after taking into consideration everything that has occurred, there was a good chance that if I was on my own I most likely would not have survived,” she said, looking at Makoto, “So if anything, you being there saved me Makoto. I thank you for that.”

Makoto blushed a bit at her praise towards him, “Oh, I’m glad to hear that. I’m just thankful you’re not mad at me, I figured you were since you weren’t talking to me.”

“Actually, my reasoning for not saying anything since we left the docks was because I was in thinking of some other events that had happened, and frankly Makoto,” she explained as her face took a serious expression, gazing coldly at Makoto, “You have some explaining to do.”

“Wh-what do you mean?” he said nervously.

“‘I fought back.’ Makoto I have known you long enough to know you are anything but a fighter, so I find it hard to believe you were the one who comatosed Jutaro,” she said, “Not to mention I know for a fact I got stabbed with an arrow in the shoulder, yet there’s no sign of any injury there. And there’s still that thing that I saw before the police arrived.”

“I know you’re hiding something Makoto, what is it?” she demanded.

This was something Makoto was afraid of. Ever since she saw Lucky Number, Makoto had a feeling Kyoko was suspicious of him since she regained consciousness. The only problem now is how he was going to explain everything to her. Knowing she wouldn’t give up asking about it, he sighed in defeat.

“I had a feeling this would come up,” Makoto sighed, “I’ll explain everything, but it’s going to sound crazy. Not sure if you’ll believe it.”

“Makoto trust me, after tonight I’m willing to believe anything,” she admitted.

“Like Byakuya actually reciprocating Toko’s love for him?” he joked, causing a light laugh from Kyoko.

“That might be a bit too absurd to believe,” she said in between her laugh.

“Not as absurd as what I am about to tell you,” Makoto said, “When I said I fought back against Jutaro, technically that wasn’t a lie. I actually did do that to him.”

Before Kyoko could ask how, Makoto continued, “I possess something called a Stand, a manifestation of my life force. At least, that was how it was explained to me when I found out about it.” He looked over to Kyoko, who gestured him to continue, “Stands differ for each user, but they can give their users some kind of power which they can use however they want. Jutaro had one as well, but I was able to beat him with my Stand.”

“And how long have you had this Stand?” Kyoko asked calmly.

“Only for a few months really, I found out about it on the day where I got notified of my acceptance to Hope’s Peak,” Makoto explained, “In fact, that day was also when I met Jutaro. It’s a long story but because of my luck I inadvertently stopped him from getting away from some jewels he had stolen and got him arrested.”

“Must’ve been a crazy day for you,” Kyoko said.

“Yeah, but after that an old man who I met on that day too came up to me and he explained to me what Stands were, and between then and my first day at Hope’s Peak, he taught me about my Stand and what it can do,” Makoto explained, “You know Kyoko, you’re taking all this a lot better than I thought you would.”

“While I admit it does sound absurd, especially for someone as logical as a detective like me, I have my reason to believe you,” she explained, “Besides, it’s impossible for you to hide a lie from me.”

“I’m that see-through huh,” Makoto chuckled.

“Like an open book,” she responded, “So knowing what you say is true, does that mean what I saw at the warehouse was your Stand?”

Makoto was silent for a while before looking at Kyoko dead in the eye, “Kyoko before I answer that, are you absolutely sure you saw something?”

“I am,” she responded, sensing the seriousness of the subject, “I may have just regained consciousness at the time but there was no mistake, I saw something.”

“I was hoping you didn’t,” Makoto sighed as he reached into his pocket, taking out the d20 die he had. “Yes, what you saw was my Stand. At least it’s true form, outside of that this is what my Stand usually looks like.”

“What do you mean true form?”

“Let me explain, in most cases Stands can only be seen by other Stand Users,” Makoto explained.

“So does that mean I’m a Stand User since I can see your Stand right now?” Kyoko asked, pointing at the die Makoto was holding.

“Well no, but also yes,” Makoto said, getting a questioning look from Kyoko, “When my Stand is like this, it can be seen by non-Stand Users. But what you saw was my Stand’s true form, which can only be seen by Stand Users. So yes, you are a Stand User Kyoko.”

“But if that’s the case, why don’t I have my own Stand?” she asked.

“If I had to guess, it’s because you just recently became one and it’s still developing,” Makoto explained, “And I think I know what caused you to become one.”

Makoto reached into his jacket and, much to Kyoko’s shock, pulled out the arrow that was used on her earlier, “You still have that?”

“I figured something was odd about this arrow when I saw it wasn’t sticking out of you anymore and that you’re wound had healed,” Makoto explained, “This is the only thing I can think of that explains you being a Stand User. Somehow this arrow can make people Stand Users.”

“I suppose that would be the most logical reasoning,” Kyoko said, “What are you going to do with it?”

“There’s someone I know who may know about this more than me,” Makoto said as he pocketed the arrow back in his jacket, “I plan on giving him a call to explain everything. He should know what to do.”

Kyoko nodded at his explanation, believing it to be the best course of action. Silence filled the room as there wasn’t much else to be said until Kyoko spoke again, “So Makoto, why don’t you tell me more about your Stand?”

“Well my Stand is somewhat complicated, you sure you want an explanation?” he inquired.

“There’s not much else to do so why not, plus I’m curious on how you used it against Jutaro,” she answered.

“Well I guess if you want to know then,” Makoto said holding up the die, “My Stand’s called Lucky Number, and a way to explain what it can do is that it essentially turns the world into a game of D&D for me.”

“What?”

“I know that sounds weird but let me explain, but how it works is that I say an action that I want to do and then I roll. Depending on what it lands, either the action I said happens perfectly, has some problems during execution, or just straight up fails,” Makoto explained, “Let me give you an example.”

He took out a pen he had from his pocket and looked over at a small trash bin on the other side of the room, “I toss this pen across the room and it’ll land perfectly inside the trash bin.” He rolled Lucky Hope across his bed, only for it to land on a 1, much to Makoto’s displeasure.

“What happens if you roll a 1?” Kyoko asked.

“Well in D&D when you roll that, it’s considered a critical failure and the action you wanted to do backfires against you. In this case,” Makoto said as he tossed the pen across the room. However, the pen ricocheted off the trash bin and back to Makoto, hitting him in the forehead. He rubbed his forehead, which now had a small stinging sensation, “That happens.”

Kyoko couldn’t help but let out a small giggle at Makoto’s misfortune, “If you knew that was going to happen why did you do it?”

“Once an action has been declared and it’s been rolled for it has to go through, otherwise Lucky Number can’t be used again,” Makoto explained.

“I see, I suppose that makes sense,” she said understandably, “Is there anything else it can do?”

“Well Lucky Number can be used to affect other people in a way,” he said, “While I can’t use it to control people’s actions, it can influence how I talk to them.”

“How so?” Kyoko questioned.

“Well, I actually used it back at the station before I interrogated Matsuda. I said I was going to interrogate him for any information on Bloody Clover and I got a 16, which was how I got him to talk,” Makoto explained.

“So that explains it, I thought it was odd when you got him to talk so easily,” Kyoko admitted, “But that got me thinking of something.”

“What’s that?” Makoto asked.

“Have you been using Lucky Number to influence me and the others in our class?” Kyoko asked seriously, “Perhaps you used it on me to get me to open up more to you and the others.”

Seeing that he was in some deep trouble, Makoto quickly tried to talk his way out of this, “N-N-N-No of course not, I would never do that to you! Or anyone else for that matter. In fact, I haven’t even used Lucky Number for anything like that, I only ever used it when absolutely necessary! I swear I would never use my Stand’s power on something selfish like that!”

Before Makoto could explain further, he stopped talking when he noticed Kyoko holding her hand in front of her mouth as she was trying to prevent herself from laughing. Some snickers did leak out of her though before she finally calmed down, a smile on her face as she looked at Makoto, “I knew you wouldn’t do anything of that sort Makoto.”

“Then, why did you-”

“I wanted to see how you would react to such an accusation,” she answered honestly, “And I must say I found it hilarious.”

“You really scared me there Kyoko,” Makoto said with a small blush on his face.

“Apologies,” she said, “But I’m curious, are there any limits to your Stand’s power?”

“A few yeah, for one the action has to be realistic. I can’t just say I grow an extra pair of arms and roll for it, no the action still has to be something that can realistically happen,” Makoto explained, “Also if I try to use Lucky Number to talk to someone but they are aware of it, it won’t work. For example, if I said I convince Kyoko Kirigiri to remove her gloves for me and I got a high roll for it, it won’t happen because you’re aware of it.”

“Makes sense,” Kyoko said before realizing something, “But what about what I saw, Lucky Number’s true form?”

“Oh that is a special case,” Makoto smiled, “Lucky Number’s true form will only come out if I ever roll a 20. When I do the die disappears and Lucky Number’s true form comes out. It can only be out for five minutes before it turns into a die again, but as long as it’s out I will always roll a 20. So any action I say will happen.”

“That’s impressive,” Kyoko admitted.

“Furthermore, with its true form I don’t always have to say an action. I can control Lucky Number to act without saying an action.”

Kyoko took in what he said about his Stand while a few more questions arose, “I’m curious, can anyone else use Lucky Number? Like if they were to roll it, would its powers work on them?”

“I… don’t know honestly,” Makoto admitted, “I only ever used it on myself, I’m not sure if it works with others.”

“Also what would happen if you lost Lucky Number while it was a die?” she asked.

“Oh that actually happened once,” he said sheepishly, “ I kind of left it in my pocket while my pants went through the wash and I couldn’t find it for a while. One of the disadvantages of not having it dissipate like normal Stands. Nothing bad necessarily happens when I lost it, I’m just unable to use it until I find if. However, because of that, I learned that I can actually sense where Lucky Number is if I ever misplaced it.”

Before Kyoko could ask another question, the door suddenly slammed open as a heavily breathing Aoi Asahina stood there. “Are you guys ok?!”

“Hina?! What are you doing here?!” Makoto asked in shock.

“Why wouldn’t I be here?! When I heard you two were in the hospital I came as soon as possible!” Aoi explained loudly.

“But how did you find out, news of this incident shouldn’t have gone out to the public yet?” Kyoko questioned.

“You can thank me for that,” someone said as Byakuya Togami walked in, “As the Togami Corporation has access to police reports it was only a matter of time before I found out you two were involved.”

“How sweet, you do care for our well being,” Kyoko teased, causing both Makoto and Hina to chuckle.

“Please, everyone’s questioning of your whereabouts simply annoyed me, so I told them where you were to put an end to it,” he explained arrogantly.

“And yet you came with us to check on them, nobody asked you to join us,” Sayaka said as she walked in, followed by both Leon Kuwata and Chihiro Fujisaki.

“‘Us?’” Makoto asked.

“What you think Byakuya told us what happened and we wouldn’t worry about you guys?” Leon asked, “Of course we came!”

“In fact, the whole class is here,” Fujisaki said, “The rest are just waiting in the lobby since we all couldn’t come in at once.”

Makoto smiled at the fact their classmates came to check on them when he remembered something he needs to do. “It’s great that you guys came for us, but I need to step out for a minute.”

“What for?” Byakuya asked suspiciously.

“Just need to make a call is all,” Makoto explained as he got up from the hospital bed while pocketing Lucky Number, “Figured I should let my family know about this before it comes up in the news.”

“Oh, alright. Well don’t take too long, you got a lot of explaining to do mister,” Hina said.

Makoto stepped out into the hallway, getting a brief glimpse of Kyoko who nodded in understanding of what he was doing, before closing the door to the room. He took out his phone and went to his contacts, selecting one he hasn’t dialed in a while. When he brought it up to his ear, the call was still being made for a few more seconds before someone picked up.

_“Hello,”_ the other end of the call responded, the voice sounding like it belonged to an old man.

“Hey Mr. Joestar, it’s me, Makoto Naegi,” Makoto said.

_“Ah Makoto, it sure has been a while,”_ Mr. Joestar responded, _“To what do I owe the pleasure?”_

“Something came up recently, and I need your help with something,” Makoto explained. As he began to explain the situation to Mr. Joestar, Makoto couldn’t help but think back to when he first met him. The man that would forever change his life.

\---

*5 Months Ago*

Makoto wasn’t sure what in the world just happened. One minute he was just going to return a phone left by an old man he briefly talked to. Next thing he knew, he had inadvertently just stopped a robber from escaping with some jewels that he had recently stolen. Makoto wasn’t sure how, but his own luck had caused the robber to crash as he was attempting to escape on a postman’s motorcycle.

As Makoto examined the crash, the robber now passed out, he suddenly felt something in his right hand. He took a look at it and saw that he was holding an orange d20 die. “Where did this come from?” he asked, never seeing the die before.

“Hey kid,” someone called out to him. Makoto turned towards the voice and saw the old man he had talked to coming up to him. The man looked to be around 60 or 70 years old, yet he was fairly muscular. His hair and beard were gray in color, and his clothing reminded Makoto of an explorer, complete with white gloves, dark wristbands, khaki pants, a short-sleeve shirt, and even a fedora.

“That was pretty impressive what you did there,” he complimented Makoto.

“Oh uh, thanks I guess,” Makoto said, “I’m not even sure what I did, my luck just sort of took care of everything.”

“Well, either way, it stopped that guy so all's well that ends well,” he responded before he saw the die that Makoto was holding, “What do you have there?”

“Oh this, well,” Makoto said, not sure how to explain the die before someone could be heard getting up.

“You,” the robber, Jutaro Akafuku, who was thought to be unconscious, said to Makoto as he got up. His eyes were full of hatred as he looked at the boy, “You ruined everything you brat. I’ll freaking kill you!” Jutaro took out a knife and ran towards Makoto, who just stood there in fear.

Just when he was about to get stabbed, the old man intervened.

“Hermit Purple!”

Makoto felt something wrap around him as he was forcibly pulled away from Jutaro, just barely avoiding what would’ve been a fatal stab. Before Jutaro could understand what just happened, he felt a strong punch to the face as the old man just socked him.

“The hell do you think you doing old man?!” Jutaro exclaimed, holding his face in pain.

“Saving that boy’s life from the looks of it,” the old man said before pointing at Jutaro, “Now your next line is, ‘I’ll kill you and that damn brat!’”

“I’ll kill you and that damn brat!” Jutaro exclaimed, before gasping in shock at how the old man predicted what he would say next. This kept him distracted long enough for the old man to land a solid punch with his left hand, sending Jutaro to the ground and rendering him unconscious.

The old man walked over to Makoto, “You alright kid?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks,” Makoto thanked.

“By the way, you dropped something,” the old man said pointing to the d20 die on the floor. Before Makoto could respond, to his shock purple, thorny vines suddenly sprouted on the old man’s arm and reached out towards the die, grabbing it and bringing it over to his hand before they disappeared.

“What was that just now?!” Makoto asked in shock.

“So you saw that huh, seems my suspicions of you were correct after all,” the old man said, “Tell me kid, what’s your name?”

“Uh… Makoto Naegi,” Makoto responded, not sure where the man was going with this.

“Makoto Naegi, congratulations,” the old man said, putting a hand on the boy’s shoulder, “You are now a Stand User.”

“A what?” Makoto questioned.

“I’ll explain everything kid, just know that this die is going to change your life,” the old man smiled as he handed the die to Makoto.

“Wait I’m confused, who are you?’ Makoto asked.

“Oh where are my manners, never did give you my name,” the old man chuckled, “The name’s Joseph, Joseph Joestar!”

\---

“So that’s everything that has happened, figured I would let you know about it,” Makoto, finishing explaining the situation to Joseph on the phone.

_“Hmm, this is serious,” Joseph said, “Do you still have the arrow on you?”_

“Yes, I do,” Makoto responded.

_“There’ll be some people from the Speedwagon Foundation coming to where you are to collect it,”_ Joseph explained, _“It’s too dangerous for the arrow to be out in the open. The Speedwagon Foundation will be holding onto it. It’ll be in good hands, I fully trust the Speedwagon Foundation.”_

“If you trust them then I will as well Mr. Joestar,” Makoto said in understanding.

_“However, there’s a good chance the arrow has already been used to awaken multiple Stand Users, just like it did with Jutaro.”_

“He said he had some outside help escaping prison, you think someone’s been awakening Stand Users?”

_“There’s no doubt in my mind. Why they did it I’m not sure, but you need to be careful Makoto,”_ Joseph warned, _“Whether these new users are good or bad is unknown, but this spells trouble.”_

“I had a feeling that would be the case,” Makoto sighed.

_“Makoto listen to me,”_ Joseph started, _“This friend of yours that got stabbed by the arrow, how much do you care for them?”_

Makoto thought about his answer a bit before he responded, “I care a lot for all my friends. But for Kyoko, I honestly care about her the most. More than the whole world really.”

_“Then you need to watch over her, especially now that she’s a new Stand User. You’re gonna have to guide her through this as I did with you. Help her understand her Stand and how she can use it. Can you do that?”_

“Of course I can,” Makoto replied, “I’ll be with her the whole way. I’ll help her understand everything there is about Stands and this new life for her.”

“Spoken like a true man,” Joseph said, “I’ll go notify the Speedwagon Foundation about the arrow, they should be there in about an hour. I’ll keep in touch Makoto.”

“Got it, it was nice talking to you again Mr. Joestar,” Makoto said before the call ended. Makoto sighed as he entered the room, where everyone was barraging Kyoko with questions about what happened. He had a feeling that the “normal” life he had at Hope’s Peak was about to come to an end.”

\---

*1 Hour Later*

By the time an hour had passed all of Class 78 have visited Makoto and Kyoko. While most left after seeing them, some of them stayed behind a bit longer just to be with them a bit longer. Currently, there were only seven of them just waiting in the lobby.

As Byakuya was reading a book he had brought with him, he noticed through the glass door of the hospital a suspicious-looking white, armored car pull up in front. On the side of the car was a logo of a wooden cartwheel with the words ‘SPEED’ and ‘WAGON’ above it.

“What are they doing here?” he asked.

“Why are who here?” Leon asked before seeing the car as two men in uniforms with the same logo as the car exited the vehicle, “Who are they?”

“The Speedwagon Foundation, an organization that dedicates itself to medical and environmental research and conservation,” Byakuya explained.

“You seem to know a lot about them,” Sakura noted.

“My father has tried to buy the company multiple times, the Speedwagon Foundation is well known for its research. If the Togami Corporation had it under its control, we would gain more power than we already do,” Byakuya explained, “However they always refuse, and my father has failed to find any incriminating evidence on them to convince them.”

“So what are they doing here?” Hina asked.

“That’s what I would like to know,” Byakuya said, closing his book, now interested as the two men entered the lobby.

“Which one of you is Makoto Naegi?” one of them asked, surprising the group of students about them asking about their friend.

“That’d be me,” they heard Makoto said as he entered the lobby, walking over to the men.

“Makoto?” Sayaka questioned.

“Hey man how the hell do you know these guys?” Mondo asked, confused about what is going on.

Makoto looked at his friends with an apologetic look. He felt guilty for not telling them about this, but there were some things he needed to keep secret from them.

“You have it?”

Makoto nodded as he reached into his jacket and took out the arrow.

“What’s that?” Toko asked, sharing the same confused expression as the rest of her classmates.

Her question was ignored as one of the men lifted a briefcase he was holding and opened it up. Makoto simply placed the arrow inside the case as the man closed it, “We’ll make sure this is kept safe.”

“Thank you,” Makoto nodded as the two men left. Once they exited the hospital Makoto didn’t have time to react before Byakuya grabbed him by the collar of his jacket and brought him up to his face, which was now seething with anger.

“Explain yourself now Makoto,” he demanded.

“Byakuya what are you doing?!” Hina asked.

“Yeah man what the hell, he’s still pretty hurt chill out,” Leon added.

“He’ll be a lot worse if he doesn’t start talking,” he threatened, “You’re hiding something Makoto, I demand to know what it is!”

“Hey man back off!” Mondo warned, cracking his knuckles as he walked over to Byakuya. But Makoto raised his hand, signaling Mondo to stop much to his and everyone else’s confusion.

“I’m sure you’re confused Byakuya, along with the rest of you,” Makoto said, “But there are some things that I just can’t explain right now. I’m sorry.”

“What kind of excuse is that?” Byakuya asked in disbelief, “Tell me now or I swear Makoto I will-”

Before he could finish, a loud crash could be heard outside. Everyone looked to see the Speedwagon Foundation vehicle had now been crushed. To everyone else, all they saw was the crushed car, but for Makoto, he saw what caused it.

On top of the now crushed car, was a tall, thin-looking Stand. Its legs and arms were pink with black stripes, it’s torso was mostly black with a red pattern more inward, and its face seemed to have a permanent smile plastered onto it. The Stand’s eyes were different, while it’s right eye was simply a black dot, the left eye was red and jagged. Makoto noticed that in its hands, which had very sharp claws, was the arrow that Makoto had just given to the Speedwagon employees.

Not wasting any time, Makoto got out of Byakuya’s grasp and ran towards the Stand. Once he was outside the Stand noticed him and jumped off the car before running off. Makoto quickly ran over to the car to check on the men, only to find them both dead, each having five stab wounds on their chests and looks of terror on their faces.

Makoto cursed to himself before he quickly gave chase to the runaway Stand. However, the Stand was fast and Makoto was beginning to lose ground. But then he saw Mondo’s motorcycle parked and got an idea as he took out Lucky Number.

“I ride on the motorcycle to catch up to the Stand,” he said, tossing Lucky Hope right beside the bike. It landed on 15, which was good enough for Makoto. He picked up his Stand and hopped on the bike, “Sorry Mondo, but I need to borrow this for now.”

He was thankful now that he accepted Mondo’s offer to teach him to ride a motorcycle some time ago. He opened up the bike’s storage compartment at the front, which thankfully had a spare key. Makoto grabbed it, closed the compartment, and inserted the key into the bike’s ignition and turned it, starting it up. Makoto drove off towards the Stand, just as the others got out and called out to him, but he was already too far to hear them.

Makoto chased the Stand as it continued running, weaving past multiple cars making sure not to lose the Stand. As he chased it, Makoto kept constantly looking at his surroundings, knowing the Stand User had to be nearby. The Stand suddenly had its arm out to its as it grabbed a light pole, using to quickly turn to another street. Makoto followed its turn, taking them to an empty street with no cars.

“Something’s not right, why it’d go here?” he thought to himself, “If it stayed on the main road, it would’ve been harder for me to chase it with all those cars. So why lead me here?”

Makoto soon got his answer as the Stand raised its hand towards him before it suddenly detached itself from the Stand and soared right towards Makoto, claws out for his face. Makoto was barely able to move aside to dodge the oncoming hand. “So that was why it came here, it wouldn’t be able to attack me on the main road with all those cars,” Makoto said, “Damn, whoever the Stand User is, their clever.”

The hand that he dodged suddenly turned around and once again went after Makoto. When Makoto saw this, he quickly ducked under the hand before it could claw him. The hand attached itself back onto the Stand, now turning into an alleyway. Makoto was going to fast to stop in time so he took out Lucky Hope, “I jump off the motorcycle and land right at the alleyway.”

He tossed the die towards the alleyway. Unable to see what it landed on, Makoto hoped for the best as he jumped off when he got past it. He was thankfully able to land safely before hearing a crashing sound coming from the bike. He looked at it and while it wasn’t completely totaled, it was seriously banged up. Makoto looked down at Lucky Hope to see it had landed on 11.

“Welp, if I don’t die here Mondo is definitely going to kill me,” Makoto said, picking up Lucky Hope and entering the alleyway. The alleyway was awfully quiet, and Makoto didn’t see any sign of the Stand. Even so, he knew it was here.

Makoto heard something from above him and when he looked up, he saw that Stand was using its feet to suspend itself between the two buildings. Its left eye seemed to glow brighter as it bends forward, one of its clawed hands out to stab Makoto. He was able to avoid it before the Stand dropped itself from above and landed on the ground.

“You know, it wasn’t smart to follow me without your Stand being out,” the Stand said, its left eye glowed as it spoke in a high pitched voice.

“Who are you?” Makoto demanded, knowing that the User was communicating through the Stand.

“Oh like I would tell you who I am,” they said, “But if you want to know the name of my Stand, it’s Despair Syndrome.”

“What do you want? Why did you kill those two from before?” He inquired, remembering the bodies of the Speedwagon employees.

“They had something I wanted, so I took it from them, that's all,” the Stand replied, holding up the arrow in its hand, “As for what I want, puhuhuhu. I want to share the glory of despair to the world and this little thing will help me accomplish that.”

Makoto wasn’t sure how to respond to that answer. How could someone kill people for a goal as ridiculous as what the Stand User had told them.

“It’s been fun talking to you and all but I got places to be, Stands to awaken, and despair to share so,” they said as the claws on Despair Syndrome grew out, looking more like syringes now, “Bye-bye.”

Despair Syndrome’s hand launched towards Makoto before he rolled out of the way. He turned to look back and just as he thought, the hand turned around and was once again chasing after him. Makoto quickly looked around the area when he saw a trash can lid against the wall.

“I use the lid to deflect the Stand’s hand,” he said as he tossed Lucky Number beside the trash can, landing on 14. Makoto quickly grabbed both his Stand and the lid, turning around with it just as the hand got close to him. The claws went through the lid but stopped before they could hit Makoto.

“So that little die there is your Stand huh, well not much it can do against my Despair Syndrome,” the Stand User mocked as Despair Syndrome’s hand retreated back to its owner, “How can you defeat my Stand when you can’t even hurt it.”

While it’s true Makoto was at a disadvantage, he didn’t falter. “How about you find out?” he said as he faced the Stand, still holding the lid in his hands as a shield.

“You’re wasting both your time and mine!” they said annoyed as Despair Syndrome once again launched its hand at Makoto.

“I’ll deflect the Stand’s hand right back at it,” Makoto said before tossing Lucky Hope.

“Not gonna happen!” the user said as Despair Syndrome went towards the die in mid-roll, “There’s one weakness to your Stand Makoto when you throw it, it’s wide open for an attack like this!” Using the hand still attached to it, Despair Syndrome punched the die to the ground with enough force to cause a small crater, “How does that feel?”

“Just fine thanks,” Makto responded with a smirk. Despair Syndrome looked at him confused as Makoto used the lid to smack the hand coming at him away, changing it’s course right for the Stand. Before it had a chance to react, the hand had stabbed Despair Syndrome right in the chest.

“But how?” the User said, pain being heard in their voice, “You should’ve been hurt when I attacked your Stand.”

“My Stand isn’t like any normal Stand if it gets hurt while its a die I don’t take any damage,” Makoto explained, “Also I need to thank you, because of your interference my Stand landed on just the number I wanted.”

Despair Syndrome looked down at the die, seeing it had landed on a 20 before it suddenly disappeared. The User could be heard gasping before an orange hand suddenly punched Despair Syndrome in the face, sending it crashing into a wall.

“You asked how I was going to defeat your Stand with mine, this is how,” Makoto said as Lucky Number’s true form appeared in front of him. “I’ll jump over your next attack grab the hand as it comes at me from behind,” Makoto said before Lucky Number tossed a die at the ground.

Despair Syndrome fired its hand at Makoto again, but using his Stand he pushed himself off the ground with enough force to make a clean jump over it, gaining at least five feet of air. The hand-turned around once again flew towards Makoto, only for Lucky Number to grab it before it could reach him.

“Here, you can have this back,” Makoto said as Lucky Number threw the hand back at Despair Syndrome. The hand stabbed the opposing Stand in the shoulder and pinned it against the wall. “This ends now,” Makoto said, who was still in the air.

“I launch myself off the wall right towards your Stand!” Lucky Number once again threw another die. Makoto was able to direct himself so his feet were touching the wall before using Lucky Number to push him off straight towards Despair Syndrome. Once they were close enough, Lucky Number unleashed a barrage of punches onto the Stand.

“SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA!”

Lucky Number brought it’s hand back for one final punch, _"SAGA!”_

But just before it could land its punch, Despair Syndrome’s entire body split apart, causing Lucky Number to hit the wall and make a hole in it. Makoto was caught off guard but the Stand’s sudden movement that he didn’t see the clawed hand behind him.

“MUDA MUDA MUDA!!!”

The claws implanted themselves onto Makoto’s back, making him gasp in pain as the sharp needles dug deeper.

“Seems I underestimated you Makoto, who knew your Stand had this much power,” the other Stand User said as Despair Syndrome reassembled itself behind him.

Makoto focused as Lucky Number appeared and threw a punch at Despair Syndrome, only for its other arm to grab it in mid punch. “Oh that’ll cost you,” they said before snapping the arm it held, making Makoto scream in pain as he felt it on his arm.

“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna kill you now. I have much bigger plans for you,” the User said as Despair Syndrome leaned towards Makoto’s ear, it’s red eye glowing intensely, “I’m just going to give you a taste of the despair I plan to give to this world.”

Makoto suddenly felt something injected into from the claws on his back, before they were painfully removed, blood spewing from his wounds before he collapsed on the ground unconscious.

“Night night~.”

\---

When Makoto got up, he was horrified at the sight before him. The city was absolutely decimated, ruins of once tall buildings littered the area, the smell of fire and smoke polluted the area, and what was even more frightening was that the whole sky was red as blood.

“Shocking isn’t it, does it make you shiver to the bone,” the high-pitched voice could be heard everywhere. Makoto looked around, but couldn’t see any sign of who it belonged to. “Oh the tragedy, the calamity, despair, it’s glorious!”

“How could you possibly find joy in this?!” he asked enraged.

“You wouldn’t understand because you never got the feeling of euphoria that comes from despair, but you’re about too.”

Makoto felt the ground shake beneath him as something started to rise from the ground. When Makoto looked at what it was, his eyes widened in terror at the sight of the dead students of Class 78 hung upon wooden frames. Each one was about as bloody and beaten at the next one.

“You thought you could protect them, oh sweet little Makoto, you couldn’t,” the voice said as it laughed at his pain.

Unable to take his eyes off the bodies of his friends, he noticed that Kyoko wasn’t among them. “Wh-where is she? Where’s Kyoko?!”

“Over here!”

Makoto quickly turned behind him as Despair Syndrome could be seen holding Kyoko, one of its clawed hands at her throat. “I wonder how much despair you’ll feel as you watch this one die,” it said, gripping Kyoko’s neck as the claws started to draw blood.

“No don’t!” Makoto screamed as he ran towards them. He reached into his pocket for Lucky Number, but to his shock, it wasn't there

“You failed to protect your precious friends, you failed to protect her, you cannot protect anyone Makoto Naegi,” the user taunted as Despair Syndrome gripped at Kyoko’s neck tighter, "Now suffer in despair!"

“NO!!!!”

All Makoto could do was watch as the Stand tore Kyoko’s throat apart, causing her now lifeless body to collapse. Tears started coming down Makoto’s eyes as he screamed in anguish at the horrific sight. He soon felt only one thing, one terrible feeling.

Despair.

\---

“Makoto! Makoto! Makoto get up!”

Makoto’s eyes shot open when he felt he was being shaken. He was breathing heavily as he looked up to see Hina looking down at him with a worried face. He looked around to see he was once again back at the hospital, with everyone around him with looks of concerned. Even Byakuya looked a bit concern.

“Oh thank goodness you’re awake,” Hina sighed in relief, “You really freaked us out when you just started screaming.”

“Ugh, what happened?” he asked as he sat up. He felt a slight headache and he was about to put a hand on his head when he noticed that his right arm was now in a cast.

“After you suddenly ran off on Mondo’s bike, he called one of the guys in his gang to bring him a bike so he could find you,” Leon explained.

“I found you in an alleyway unconscious and beat up,” Mondo added, “Doctors said yourarm was broken and you had at least five stabs on your back. Bro, hat the hell happened?”

“More importantly why did you run off like that?” Byakuya asked, “That was rather odd of you.”

Makoto was silent as he was unsure ofhow to respond to them before Kyoko walked into the room. “Perhaps you shouldn’t barge with so many questions right now,” she suggested, “He just regained consciousness so asking so much is not good for him.”

“Kyoko is right,” Sakura agreed, “We should let him rest for now. He’s been through a lot this night.”

Everyone agreed with the detective’s suggestion, much to Makoto’s relief. Eventually, they all left for the night, with Mondo saying to Makoto he’ll send him the bill for his bike’s repairs, sending a killer look that sent shivers down the luckster’s spine. Soon, the only ones in the room were Makoto and Kyoko.

“You saved me there Kyoko,” he thanked her, “Wasn’t sure how I was going to explain what happened.”

“Don’t think you’re off the hook yet,” she said menacingly, which got Makoto extremely nervous, “Just what were you thinking chasing after that thing?”

“Well I, wait you saw what happened?” Makoto asked shocked.

“I did, through the window in our room,” she explained, “After you had left to give the arrow to the Speedwagon Foundation, I heard a crash and when I looked out I saw what I assume was a Stand on top of the wreckage. That was shortly after you recklessly chased after it.”

“Did you see anyone suspicious, anyone nearby that might’ve been the Stand User?” he asked, thinking he might be able to figure out what had attacked them.

“Unfortunately I was focused more on you riding off on a motorcycle than the surroundings,” she admitted before returning her glare at Makoto, “Again I ask, what were you thinking?”

“I’m really sorry if I worried you Kyoko, I really am,” he apologized, “But when I saw that Stand holding the arrow after killing those men, I knew that whoever the User was was responsible for Jutaro as well.”

“I thought if I could stop them now, all our troubles would’ve been solved. I guess I was wrong, and I just got decimated.”

“That was still reckless of you, while your injuries were minor you were still recovering from your fight with Jutaro,” Kyoko said, “You could’ve been killed Makoto, didn’t you consider that possibility.”

“Well I honestly did think Mondo would kill me for his bike,” he joked, trying to ease the tension in the room.

“I’m serious Makoto,” she responded harshly, “You need to be more careful.”

“You’re right Kyoko, I’m sorry,” he sighed, “But this is serious now. When I was fighting that Stand, while I couldn’t see the User I could feel their motives. They were pure evil, and now they have the arrow.”

“We need to find them soon, otherwise we’ll all be in trouble.”

“You’re right about that,” Kyoko agreed, “I want to help Makoto. While I still don’t have a Stand yet, I want to be as much help as I can.”

“Kyoko, you're the Ultimate Detective, if anyone can find them it’s you. So you’ll definitely be a lot of help,” Makoto assured, “And don’t worry about your Stand, it’ll definitely show up eventually. And once it does, I’ll be there to help you learn about it.”

Kyoko smiled at his words, “I know you will Makoto. Thank you.”

Both of them just sat there in comforting silence, unknown of how their hands were a top of one another.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I honestly have no idea, why I make these chapters so long. I just what write what I have planned for it and I guess it's more than I thought.
> 
> So like I said in the last chapter, we got a more in-depth explanation of Lucky Number and how it works.
> 
> And now let’s explain the other Stand that was introduced in this chapter, Despair Syndrome!
> 
> I’m sure many of you can guess who it belongs to, but as you can see I made Despair Syndrome into one heck of a Stand. And I’m still not done with showing what it can do, but that will be seen in later chapters. As you read in the chapter, Despair Syndrome is able to disassemble its body, kind of like Buggy from One Piece. But along with that, it can use its claws to inject a special hallucinogen substance into a person, giving anyone who is injected a good amount of despair just like what happened to Makoto.
> 
> Despair Syndrome's name is based on one of the soundtracks in Danganronpa 1 by the same name.
> 
> Oh and also, yes, I brought Joseph Joestar into the story. When I saw how in Makoto Naegi’s Secret File how he had briefly talked into an old man who also helped him against Jutaro, I just knew I was going to make that man Joseph.
> 
> Now before anyone complains about how this affects the timeline of Part 3, in this universe Jotaro defeats DIO in more modern times and when Joseph met Makoto it was around a year since then. So that is just to clear things up.
> 
> Anyways, my favorite part of this chapter was, of course, the fight between Makoto and Despair Syndrome. Even though he lost, he had some great moments.
> 
> As always, hoped you guys enjoyed and keep an eye out for the next chapter.
> 
> Sain’ofu.


	3. The Pitch of an Idol

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Makoto returns to class after his encounter with Despair Syndrome, only to soon be in danger yet again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is people, chapter 3. Not much to say here but hope you enjoy.

Three days have passed since the incident with Despair Syndrome and Makoto has finally been released from the hospital. While his arm was still broken and remained in a cast, Makoto was given the ok to leave and attend classes at Hope's Peak again, which he was happy about since he was bored out of his mind there. While his stay at the hospital was still somewhat pleasurable, especially with his classmates visiting him after class, he couldn't stand laying there and doing nothing. So once he was able to leave, he was probably the happiest he could be despite the broken arm and the stitches on his back from his stab wounds.

Right now he was in the hallways alongside Kyoko, who had stopped by the hospital as he was released, as they walked together to class. "Man, it feels good to be back in these halls," Makoto said.

"You haven't been gone that long you know," Kyoko said, "Only for three days."

"And that's three days too long," Makoto replied, "You have any idea how much I longed to be back here with you guys while I was at the hospital? I missed Hope's Peak."

Kyoko couldn't help but crack a smile at Makoto's response, "Well, in a way the same could be said for me. Class just hasn't been the same without you."

"Ah, you're just saying that," Makoto said while scratching the back of his head with his free hand.

"It's not just me who shares the notion though," Kyoko responded as both of them stopped in front of the door to their class, "Everyone else in Class 78 missed you."

"Really, even Byakuya?" he asked skeptically.

"He didn't show it, but we could tell," Kyoko answered, "Anyways, shall we go in?"

"Don't see why not," Makoto said as he opened the door. Once it was fully opened Makoto suddenly found himself tackled to the floor and caught in a tight hug by Hina.

"You're back Makoto!" she cheered happily as she hugged tighter, "We all missed you in class so much!"

"Hina… can't… breath!" Makoto struggled to say, "Also… you're crushing… my arm!"

"Alright Hina that's enough," Sakura said as she grabbed Hina by her shirt collar and lifted her off Makoto. "I apologize for her actions, she got too excited when she found out you were released."

"Oh no it's fine," Makoto said as he gathered his bearings and lifted himself up, "Just have to wait for the pain in my arm to go away."

"Woops, my bad," Hina said with an apologetic smile.

Kyoko let out a small laugh at the scene that just transpired before her and Makoto entered the classroom. Makoto was soon met with the whole class welcoming him back, saying how much they had missed him. Even Byakuya said that he was glad that Makoto was back, which really surprised him. Makoto didn't expect to be missed this much, which made him appreciate everyone even more. But then he noticed that there was someone missing from their class.

"Hey guys, where's Junko?" Makoto asked, noticing the absence of the Ultimate Fashionista.

It was Mukuro who spoke up and answered the luckster, "Junko had to leave three days ago for a photo shoot in another city. Although she wanted me to tell you that she's also happy you're back."

"Oh, well that's good to hear," Makoto said before he was suddenly caught in a headlock by Mondo.

"Don't think just because we're glad you're back means you're off the hook yet man," Mondo said as he harshly rubbed his knuckles on Makoto's head, "Just what the hell were you thinking?"

"I absolutely agree, what you did was completely irresponsible for a student of Hope's Peak and look where it has gotten you!" Kiyotaka reprimanded to Makoto, who was trying to escape Mondo's grip.

"Not to mention you still owe me for what you did to my ride!" Mondo added, rubbing his knuckles harder.

"Ok ok, I'm sorry, stop!" Makoto exclaimed.

Everyone just laughed at Mondo's treatment of Makoto. And while Makoto was trying to escape, he couldn't help but smile at the usual antics of his classroom. However, nobody noticed how Byakuya was slightly glaring at him. While he admitted he was glad Makoto was ok, he held high suspicion towards the luckster. His actions were very unusual of him, not to mention Byakuya didn't forget how he was associated with the Speedwagon Foundation. Makoto was hiding something, and Byakuya was determined to find out what it was.

\---

After the morning antics and Makoto finally being released from Mondo's grip, class had gone by in a breeze and the day was already over. Makoto was just about to head out when Sayaka walked up to him, hiding her hand behind her.

"Hey Makoto, there's something I want to give you," she said.

"Oh really, what is it?"

She smiled as she revealed what she was hiding, which were a pair of tickets, "Two tickets for front row seats at my concert tonight."

"Wait you're having a concert tonight?" he questioned.

"Yep, I announced it yesterday to the class but you weren't here and I forgot to bring it up when I visited you at the hospital," she explained, "Anyways I was able to get my manager to give me these to give to you. You can probably go with someone, say a certain Ultimate Detective."

Makoto blushed at Sayaka's implication when Leon entered the conversation, "You had those on you Sayaka? Man, that's unfair giving them to Makoto."

"I'm sorry but were you in the hospital for three whole days, I don't think so," Sayaka said with a teasing smile, much to Leon's annoyance.

"Hey Makoto we're bros right, come on I'm sure you can take me along wit-" Leon was interrupted when Sayaka started pulling on his ear, "Ow ow ow ow! Sayaka please stop!"

"That's what you get for trying to peer pressure Makoto," she reprimanded as she let go of Leon, who was rubbing his now red ear.

Makoto laughed at the comedic actions of the pair, "Well thanks Sayaka, I'm looking forward to it." He pocketed the tickets and walked out of the classroom.

He roamed through the empty hallways of Hope's Peak as he made his way to his dorm. He thought about the tickets that Sayaka had given to him and wondered if he should ask Kyoko to go with him. Makoto figured she might be busy with a case or that she wasn't into these kinds of events, but he then thought it wouldn't hurt to ask.

As he neared the student dormitories, he saw something coming towards him on the corner of his eye. Makoto turned around, just barely avoiding a large crystal ball as it went passed him. Now on alert, he turned to where the ball was thrown only to find that nobody was there. He looked around and was shocked to see the crystal ball coming at him again.

He jumped out of its path and kept his eye on it and saw it curve in mid-air right back at him. Makoto rolled out of the way before it could hit and took out Lucky Number as the crystal ball turned around again. "I use my backpack to block the crystal ball," he said before tossing the Stand and grabbing the arm of his backpack with his good arm.

When the crystal ball got close enough, he slid the backpack off his back and swung it towards the orb, shattering it on contact. However, some of the shatters dug into Makoto's hand, making him groan in pain. He took a look at his hand and winced when he saw the shards and blood on it. He looked over to where Lucky Number landed and saw it had landed on 7.

"Man I cannot stop getting hurt can I?" he asked annoyed. He picked up Lucky Number and looked down at the now broken glass ball, recognizing it as one of the ones Hagakure used. He looked around for any sign of his attacker but found nothing. He continued moving, now fully alert in case there were any attacks.

\---

After a quick visit to the Ultimate Nurse and having his hand cleaned up and wrapped in bandages, Makoto had finally made it to the Student Dormitories. He was about to enter his room when he looked over to Kyoko's dorm. Remembering the tickets he was given, he decided to just ask her if she wanted to come.

It wasn't a big deal, just two close friends going to a concert together. That's all.

Lightly knocking on her door, wincing at how it hurt to that with his bandaged hand, he waited for a few seconds before Kyoko opened it.

"Oh Makoto, is there anything you need?" she asked.

"Hey Kyoko, there was something I wanted to ask you," he answered. Before he could ask it, however, Kyoko noticed his hand.

"What happened there?" she asked, pointing to Makoto's bandaged hand.

"Oh this… would you believe me if I said I tripped and scraped it against some rocks?" he asked, receiving a deadpan look from Kyoko, "Yeah I didn't think so, best to talk about this inside." Kyoko nodded in agreement and let him in, closing the door behind him. Both of them sat on the edge of her bed as Makoto explained, "So there's no easy way to say this, but I'm pretty sure another Stand User just attacked me."

"At Hope's Peak? Are you sure?" Kyoko asked concerned.

"Unless you can think of another way a crystal ball kept turning around in mid air, yeah I'm sure," he responded.

"Was it the same one as before?"

"No, I didn't even see the Stand or the User," he answered. "But I know for certain that there's another Stand User here at Hope's Peak."

"So even here you're not safe. You sure live quite a dangerous life Makoto," Kyoko stated.

"Tell me about it."

"In any case, we should be more careful now since we don't know who it is," Kyoko suggested, "But I'm guessing that wasn't what you were originally going to tell me when you came to me, is it?"

"Oh right, yeah there is actually something else," he said, remembering what he wanted to ask Kyoko. He reached into his pocket and took out the tickets, "Sayaka gave me a pair of front row tickets to her concert tonight, I was wondering if you wanted to join me?"

Kyoko put a hand to her chin as she considered Makoto's request. As she was thinking, Makoto was slightly concerned at how long she was thinking, before she finally spoke, "I would be happy to go with you, Makoto."

"Really?" he asked surprised.

"Yes, that is unless you have someone else in mind?" she asked.

"N-No not at all, I'm glad that you want to come," he quickly responded.

"Great, then I guess I'll see you later tonight."

"Yeah, see you then Kyoko," Makoto said as he exited the room.

She watched him enter his room before she closed her door, keeping an eye out for anyone suspicious. There was a reason she accepted Makoto's invitation. Aside from actually wanting to go with him, it was also to make sure he was safe now that he was being watched. While Kyoko is unsure how much help she would be, especially since she still doesn't have her Stand, she'll still do whatever it takes to make sure Makoto is alright.

\---

By the time it was night, the concert hall where Sayaka's group will be performing was already bustling with activity. There were over 10,000 audience members who came to see the group perform. Among them, Makoto and Kyoko had just arrived.

"Man, I didn't expect so many people to be here," Makoto said.

"Well it is to be expected, Sayaka's group is very popular across the globe so of course there would be many fans here," Kyoko responded.

"I suppose so," Makoto said, agreeing with the detective.

"Hey you guys!" they heard someone call out to them, turning around and seeing Leon waving at them.  
"Oh Leon, should've known you would be here," Makoto said.

"Yep, like hell I would miss one of Sayaka's performances," Leon smirked, "Although I'm surprised you came Kyoko. Didn't take you as someone into idol performances."

"Normally no, but after Makoto invited me I decided to join him," she responded.

"Oh is that right?" he inquired while giving a playful look at Makoto, "Makoto you sly dog."

"I-It's not like that Leon!" Makoto quickly responded, his face turning red.

"Sure it isn't, whatever you say man," Leon said, "Well, I guess I'll see you two inside." Leon left the pair and made his way inside the Concert Hall.

"Shall we go in too Makoto?" Kyoko asked.

"Yeah, lets," he said, his face still a bit red.

They entered the Concert Hall together and made their way to their seats in the front row. They didn't have to wait long as the lights dimmed and the music started playing. Smoke came from the stage as Sayaka and her group rose from the stage, causing the whole crowd to cheer as they started singing. Makoto recognized this song as _Negaigoto Ensemble_, a song that Sayaka told him about a while ago. She explained that the song was about her hopes and dreams that she wanted to tell others about, and based on the lyrics he could understand how.

Makoto couldn't help but smile at the performance that the group was giving, and when he looked over at Kyoko, he saw that she was smiling too. He was glad that she was enjoying this, he was nervous that she might not like coming to the concert. But seeing that smile of hers, a smile that always made him happy to see, he knew it was worth it.

Eventually, the song came to an end and the audience cheered as Sayaka spoke in her microphone, "Thank you all for coming here tonight! This next song is a new one that I wrote about a very good friend of mine and I am very thankful for knowing them. So put your hands together for this next one, _Monochrome Answer!_"

As the next song began to play, Makoto thought about what Sayaka said and was wondering who she was talking about. Kyoko however, immediately knew that Sayaka was talking about Makoto. It was no secret to her that the idol held Makoto in high regard, and Kyoko would be lying if she said she didn't feel a pang of jealousy. But she didn't hold it against the idol, she knew Makoto longer so of course she would feel that way towards him.

Her train of thought was soon interrupted when she heard Makoto groan in pain. She turned towards him to see him gripping his bandaged hand, which was now leaking out more blood. "Makoto what happened?" she asked in concern, raising her voice so he could hear her through the loud music.

"I'm not sure, I felt something hit my hand really hard but I didn't see anything," he answered, wincing at the pain he was feeling on his hand, "I thought I would be safe here, but I guess that Stand User from before is here as well."

"We need to go then," Kyoko said urgently. Makoto nodded in agreement and they got out of their seats and made their way to the exit. Just as soon as they exited the doors to the outside though, Kyoko felt something hard hit her leg and she fell down, pain coursing through her leg.

"Kyoko!" Makoto cried out in worry.

Kyoko looked at her leg and that it had been bruised, but still useable. She quickly got up looked over at Makoto before seeing someone behind him, "Makoto behind you!"

Makoto turned around to see what it was only to gasp when he saw them.

"Glad I was able to get the two of you out here, it'll make getting rid of you so much easier."

"Leon?!" Makoto exclaimed in confused shock at the sight of the baseball star.

"You know Makoto if you just didn't fight back the first time then Kyoko wouldn't have to get involved in this," Leon said as he reached into his pocket, "But now that she is I'm afraid that she has to die too."

"Why are you doing this Leon?" Kyoko asked.

"Hmm, why was I told to kill you again? Oh that's right," he said as he took out a knife from his pocket, "They said to make you feel despair." He tossed the knife right at them but both Makoto and Kyoko were able to dodge.

"Kyoko keep your eye on it, Leon is able to control whatever he throws," Makoto warned as the knife turned around straight for Makoto, who ducked under it.

"Oh good for you, you were able to figure out the power of my Stand," Leon smirked, "It won't do you much good though. Perfect Game!"

As Leon finished calling out his Stand, a floating baseball with arms and a pair of shades appeared right next to him. The Stand had a red mohawk and grinning widely while holding a black electric guitar. "Let's get rocking!" Perfect Game exclaimed as it strummed its guitar. The knife once again turned around right for Makoto, who took out Lucky Number.

"I dodge the oncoming knife and run straight for Leon," Makoto said tossing the die, which landed on 13. Makoto was then able to move his head as the knife went past him, and he ran straight towards Leon, but he was still smirking.

"I think you forgot who else is here," Leon said as Perfect Game played on its guitar. Makoto gasped as he turned around and saw the knife heading straight towards Kyoko.

"Kyoko look out!" he warned. Thankfully the detective was able to move out of the knife's path before it turned around right towards her again.

As Kyoko prepared to dodge again, she felt something against her foot and looked down to find a lone brick. She got an idea as she picked up the brick and the knife got closer to her. Just as it was about to hit, Kyoko used the brick to block the knife, making it stuck on the knife.

"Oh damn that is one clever chick," Perfect Game said in awe.

"Now is not the time to be aweing her!" Leon shouted towards his Stand before feeling Makoto's fist on his face, "Damn man when did you hit so hard."

"Leon why are you doing this, I thought we were friends?" Makoto questioned.

"It's nothing personal Makoto, but," Leon started as he got in a pitching pose, much to Makoto's confusion, "Job's a job." He acted out throwing a baseball just as Perfect Game strummed its guitar.

Makoto suddenly felt something hit his gut hard, knocking the wind out of him as he was knocked back. He held his gut in pain before seeing Lucky Number beside him. He went out to reach for it, but it was knocked away from him by something before feeling something hit his broken arm, making him scream in pain.

"Makoto!" Kyoko exclaimed. She was about to run up to him but was stopped when something crashed in front of her, preventing her from moving.

"You just stay there Kyoko, we'll deal with you in a sec," Leon said before he continued pitching his invisible projectiles at Makoto, as the luckster was unable to recover from the barrage.

Unable to see the suffering he was going through Kyoko looked away, cursing herself for being unable to help. She wished she had her Stand, then she would be able to help Makoto like he has been helping her. She glared at Leon in anger when she realized something.

Kyoko noticed that her eyesight seemed to have zoomed in on Leon, more specifically at his hands. That was when she saw what he was throwing, air. Leon was somehow using the air around him as projectiles, and Kyoko could see them. Which means she can also avoid them.

This new resolve in mind, Kyoko ran straight towards Leon, who saw her coming. "Eager to die are we," he said as Perfect Game kept playing on its guitar as Leon kept throwing his air projectiles. However, now that Kyoko was able to see them, she managed to weave past every single one much to Leon's shock.

Leon was about to throw another one but Kyoko had managed to get close enough to land a hit on him, or more specifically for a fist that suddenly materialized to hit him. Leon was knocked down to the ground unconscious and Perfect Game disappeared.

Kyoko ran over to Makoto who was struggling to get up, "Makoto are you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm alright," he assured, looking at her before his eyes widened in surprise, "Kyoko, look behind you."

She did so and realized why Makoto was surprised. Right beside her, was a tall humanoid, feminine Stand with pale skin. The Stand had clothing very similar to Sherlock Holmes, including the cap. On its right eye was a golden monocle and it wore black gloves similar to Kyoko's. Kyoko was in awe at the figure in front of her.

"So is this my Stand?" She asked.

"Indeed I am, Mistress Kirigiri," the Stand replied to the shock of Makoto and Kyoko.

"Whoa, your Stand has its own personality," Makoto said, "That's uncommon for Stands."

"So if you're my Stand, what is it that you do?" Kyoko asked.

"You saw what I am capable of just now," the Stand replied as a smoke pipe materialized in its hand, taking a breath into it, "It was because of me that you were able to see the air that boy was throwing. I can see even the smallest detail, nothing can escape my sight."

"Whether it be a single drop of blood, whether to notice an object has been moved even a tiny bit, nothing can escape my sight. For even the tiniest little detail…"

"Can be the solving factor of even the biggest case," Kyoko finished.

"Indeed, you may refer to me as, Mystery Girl," the now named Mystery Girl said as her smoke pipe disappeared and she bowed, "And I am at your command, Mistress Kirigiri."

"A Stand fitting a detective, you definitely got a good one Kyoko," Makoto said.

"It appears I have," she smiled before looking at Leon, noticing something, "Hang on." She walked over to his unconscious body and pulled back his hair on his forehead. "Makoto, look at this."

Makoto came up to her and saw what she was referring to. On Leon's forehead, was a small device that resembled a bear's head. Makoto gasped when he saw the face of the bear, it's right half was white with a single black eye while it's left half was black with a red jagged eye.

"I know that face, that's the same face as the Stand I fought before," he gasped.

"So it seems they were responsible for this attack, using Leon as a puppet it seems," Kyoko said, "I thought he was acting strange, this isn't like him at all." She reached for the device and pulled it off of Leon to inspect it, but the moment she did the device started beeping and the red eye started to blink.

"That doesn't sound good!" Makoto exclaimed in worry.

Kyoko quickly threw the device as far away as she could just as it exploded. Her and Makoto had to cover their eyes from the blast, "Seems like the mastermind behind this doesn't want to leave anything that could lead us to them."

"Using our friends against us, didn't think it was possible but I'm hating who this guy is more and more," Makoto said.

Leon began to stir as he got up, holding a hand to his head. "What the hell happened, my head is killing me?"

"Leon, you alright?" Makoto asked.

Leon looked at both Makoto and Kyoko before his eyes widened in realization, "Oh shit you guys ok? I didn't hurt you or anything did I?"

"You remembered what you were doing?" Kyoko asked.

"Only barely, I knew I was attacking you guys but I couldn't stop myself," Leon explained, "You guys good?"

"Aside from being sore all over, I'm fine," Makoto said.

"Leon, do you remember anything else?" Kyoko asked, "Like whoever it was that put the controller on you?"

"Yeah I do but they didn't come up to me themselves," Leon answered, "They were controlling some robot bear that called itself Monokuma, thing stabbed me with some arrow before putting that damn controller on me."

"It's just as I was afraid of, they're awakening more Stand Users," Makoto said.  
"And then mind controlling them to do their bidding," Kyoko said, "Whoever the mastermind is, they're certainly clever, that's for sure."

"I'm really sorry guys, if they didn't get the jump on me I wouldn't have been used to hurt you," Leon apologized, "Also, what the hell were you doing man, why didn't you stop me?!" Perfect Game suddenly appeared besides Leon.

"I was just doing what you were ordering me to do man, that's all," Perfect Game said.

"You didn't find it a bit off that I was attacking my own friends?!" Leon asked angrily.

"Hey man questioning our users isn't in the job description, we just do what they tell us," the Stand answered, "Good, bad, we don't care. We just go with the flow of our users."

"What kind of explanation is that?!"

As Leon and his Stand continued to argue, Makoto and Kyoko just watched in silence, unsure of what to say. Kyoko however soon realized something, "Leon, is your Stand able to detect people?"

"No can do little lady," Perfect Game said, receiving a small glare from Kyoko at the nickname, "I just control whatever Leon here throws with my guitar, ain't no way of finding anyone who's hiding."

"Then how were you able to find where we were inside the concert, with so many people is should've been impossible?" Kyoko questioned.

Leon's eyes widened, "Oh god, I just remembered."

"What?" Makoto asked.

"When that bear came up to me… I wasn't alone," Leon said.

Before they could ask for clarification, the three of them were forced to cover their ears as they were suddenly barraged by a loud screech. After about thirty seconds the screech came to a halt as they started to recover from the sudden attack.

"Seems like I have to finish where you left off Leon, just like my psychic powers said," they heard someone say, only to be shocked at who it was, "Just kidding, I just had good intuition that you would fail."

"Sayaka too?" Makoto inquired.

"Yeah, Monokuma got us both when we were alone," Leon explained, "Her Stand was how I was able to find you guys?"

"Do you know what it does?" Kyoko asked.

"Let me answer that for you," Sayaka said, "Siren's Sound!" Sayaka's Stand appeared right beside her, resembling a beautiful woman with light blue skin. It's hair was like Sayaka's, being dark blue and going down to her back. It had on a white gown and both of its eyes were closed.

Sayaka took a deep breath as both her and the Stand clasped their hands together in front of them before Sayaka unleashed another banshee-like screech, forcing them to cover their ears again as it went on. Soon Sayaka stopped screeching, "Siren's Sound allows me to control soundwaves, allowing me to raise the volume of my voice like so or as echo location, which was how I was able to tell Leon where you guys were."

"Wait, but how did you get out here with so many people inside?" Makoto asked, "Wouldn't that have made you suspicious?"

"Simple really, I used Siren's Sound to alter the soundwaves in a way that made everyone fall asleep during my performance," Sayaka answered, "It's amazing what soundwaves can do when altered correctly."

Sayaka got ready to do another screech, but Leon wasn't going to take it and threw an air ball at Sayaka. But just before it could hit she screamed and the air ball dispersed. "You may be able to throw air Leon, but sound waves can disrupt air," Sayaka said.

"You guys got any ideas?" Leon asked.

"She should have a controller on her like you Leon right?" Makoto questioned, "We just need to get it off her somehow."

"How do you suppose we do th-" Kyoko asked but suddenly found herself quiet. She tried to speak again but was unable to, seeing that Makoto and Leon also had the same problem.

"Don't think I'll let you guys talk to each other to strategize," Sayaka said, "My Siren's Sound just silenced your sound waves, so you'll be quiet for a while."

Sayaka let out another screech on the three, louder than before. As it went on, Makoto endured the noise as he took out Lucky Number. _"I always wondered if my Stand's abilities work non-vocally, time to find out."_ he thought to himself as Sayaka continued screaming.

_"When Sayaka stops screaming, I run up to her and grab the controller,"_ he thought before throwing Lucky Number. When Sayaka stopped screaming, Makoto quickly ran towards her. But as he reached for the controller, Sayaka stepped out of the way and Makoto missed it.

Sayaka then let out another screech focused straight om Makoto who was sent flying into the wall of the Concert Hall. He fell down to the floor right beside where Lucky Number was thrown, landing on a 3. _"Oh, terrific,"_ he thought sarcastically.

"I suppose I should stop toying around with you three," Sayaka said as she walked up to Makoto, "It's been nice knowing you all."

As Makoto was about to get blasted by another screech, Kyoko summoned Mystery Girl to search for anything that can help in this situation. Both of their eyes then landed on the brick Kyoko had used earlier which still had the knife in it and she got an idea.

She took the knife out of the brick and grabbed Leon by the shoulder, causing him to look at her. Kyoko pointed at the hilt of the knife, then at the back of her head before pointing at Sayaka. Leon understood what Kyoko was telling him, nodding and taking the knife.

Perfect Game appeared as Leon got ready to throw the knife, strumming his guitar as Leon threw it. The knife spun as it headed for its target and just as Sayaka was about screech, the knife's hilt hit her in the back of the head. She turned around only to have Kyoko's gloved hand covering her mouth as Mystery Girl reached for the controller on Sayaka's forehead, tearing it off and throwing it before it exploded.

Sayaka stood still for a moment before blinking in confusion as Kyoko put her hand down, "Wh-what's going on?"

"Just relax Sayaka," Leon assured, now being able to talk again, "It'll come back to you in a minute."

Eventually, Sayaka remembered what happened and turned to Makoto who was just getting up, "Makoto are you ok?"

"I'm fine, just glad to see that you're back," Makoto assured.

"Not to ruin this moment but we need to talk about the bigger problem here," Kyoko said, "Seeing as how both Leon and Sayaka had their Stands awakened and were used against us, we should consider the possibility that the mastermind could do the same with the others."

"She's got a point," Leon said, "Monokuma said Sayaka and I were the first of many tools for their despair, meaning the others are likely to be used as well."

"Which means we have to be careful around them," Makoto said, "I don't like not fully trusting our friends, but it seems that will have to be the case."

"But when Monokuma used me and Leon, they said to do whatever it takes to kill you Makoto," Sayaka said, "Why you though?"

"I think they see me as a threat," Makoto said, "When I fought their Stand, they didn't know of Lucky Number's abilities and I almost beat them. My guess is the longer I stay alive the more of a threat I am to them."

"We need to find out who they are as soon as possible," Kyoko said.

"Hell yeah we do, and you can bet I'm going to help!" Leon exclaimed enthusiastically, "I ain't going to let them get away for using me as a tool to hurt my friends, this calls for payback!"

"Count as in this little group of yours!" Perfect Game said, strumming on its guitar.

"Me too, I want to help in any way I can," Sayaka said determinedly.

"Whoever the mastermind is, they'll be sorry they messed with us," Makoto said.

"Agreed," Kyoko said, "For now, I believe you still have a performance to do Sayaka, but first may I speak to you for a minute?"

"Oh, sure," Sayaka said as she and Kyoko stepped away from the boys, "What is it Kyoko?"

Kyoko had some trouble speaking before she finally did, "Before you and Leon attacked us, that song you were singing earlier. When you said it was about someone special to you, was it about Ma-"

"It was about Makoto yeah, but not in the way you think," Sayaka finished with a smile, "The truth is, that song was a way for me to move on from my feelings with Makoto. I know he doesn't feel the same way towards me, and I'm ok with that. I'm just happy we're friends, he has helped me a lot."

"I see, that's nice to hear," Kyoko smiled.

"In other words Kyoko," Sayaka said with a teasing look, "You don't have any competition."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Kyoko responded quickly.

"Sure you don't," Sayaka said, "Anyways, let's head back in." Sayaka made her way inside as Kyoko just watched her in silence.

She huffed, "That girl can be just as troublesome as Hina."

\---

"Well looks like those two couldn't get the job done, that sucks," Junko said after watching the whole fight on a tablet. She was lying on a bed in a room of an apartment complex, a stuffed Monokuma doll in her hands, "It would've been so despairful for Makoto to die at the hands of his own friends, but looks like that tonight is not the night for that."

The door to the room opened as Mukuro walked in holding a first aid kit, "Junko, it's time to change."

"Yeah yeah I know," Junko complained as she sat up, "Let's get this over with so I don't have to see your ugly face." Junko lifted off her short, revealing her torso to have several dark bruises and her chest and shoulder heavily bandaged and bloody.

Mukuro started removing the bandages off of Junko, "You're lucky to be alive, you got seriously hurt in that fight."

"I know, who would've thought little Makoto had so much power behind him," Junko said as Mukuro applied new bandages on her, "Wish I could see how he was like with that broken arm, but it would be suspicious if I had the same injuries he inflicted on my Stand."

"I doubt you would've enjoyed it, everyone was happy when he returned to class," Mukuro said as she finished.

"Ugh just hearing you talk about it makes me want to hurl," Junko complained as she put her shirt back on, "But anyways, it seems miss idol and the baseball player couldn't finish him off, and what sucks is that now the Ice Queen has a Stand of her own!"

"You plan on killing her as well?" Mukuro asked.

"Of course, in fact," Junko said as she grinned, "Having her die in front of Makoto would surely drown him in such glorious despair. Puhuhuhu, it's perfect."

Junko just continued laughing madly while Mukuro just watched her silently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took a bit longer, these chapters might come out a bit slow since I need to plan them more. I know the main premise for each chapter, it's adding the details that lead up to it that takes a while.
> 
> Anyways, as I'm sure many of you will notice Lucky Number's true form didn't make an appearance this chapter. Well that's because this chapter was used to focus on the other Stands, including Kyoko's Stand which has finally been revealed. Let's talk about it shall we?
> 
> Mystery Girl is a Stand that is perfect for a detective like Kyoko. Mystery Girl is able to analyze the surrounding area with extreme perception, not missing anything. Kyoko can see whatever Mystery Girl sees, allowing her to gather any and all clues she needs. Originally I wasn't going to give Mystery Girl her own personality but for some reason, I decided to give her one and thus, she acts like she's Kyoko's butler. And yes, I gave her Sherlock's clothes just because! Her name is based off the 1988 album Mystery Girl by Ray Orbison.
> 
> Moving on to Leon's Stand, Perfect Game was one of the first Stands I came up for this story. Whenever Leon throws something Perfect Game can control the trajectory and speed of the object with its guitar. Think of it like Hol Horse's Emperor but with anything instead of just bullets. And as shown in the fight, Perfect Game can allow Leon to use the air itself as projectiles, so he always has something to throw. I also gave him his own personality just because I thought it would be great if Leon's Stand had a personality that always causes them to argue. Perfect Game's name is based off the song Perfect Game by the Thompsin Twins in 1981.
> 
> Sayaka's Stand is a recent addition but I figuredI would add it as I couldn't make a long fight scene with just Perfect Game. Her Stand, Siren's Sound, controls soundwaves, whether it be from Sayaka or from somewhere else. This allows Sayaka to raise her voice like a banshee, or take away sound for either sneak attacks or to silence the enemy from talking to each other. And if used right, sound waves can have different effects on people, meaning this Stand is one to be afraid of. Siren's Sound's name is based off the 2017 song Sound off the Sirens by Sam Tinnesz.
> 
> As for the controllers, well I had to come up with a reason why Leon and Sayaka were attacking Makoto and Kyoko. Honestly, these controllers were the best thing I could come up with. Also the songs that Sayaka sang were actual songs that were released. Seriously you can listen to them on YouTube, they're pretty good.
> 
> Anyways, got to say my favorite part of this chapter was when Kyoko's Stand appeared. I have been hinting at it since the last chapter and I hoped you guys like it.
> 
> As always, hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter and keep an eye out for the next one.
> 
> Sain'ofu


	4. Blood of a Killer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As an old "friend" returns, trouble spurs for Makoto as he once again is targeted for another attack.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one took a while to finish cause I had so much trouble trying to figure out where to go with it. But I luckily managed to get somewhere with this chapter.
> 
> So without further ado, enjoy.

"Ah man, writing notes suck with my left hand!" Makoto complained loudly as soon as class ended for them.

"How much longer do you need to have that cast again?" Hina asked.

"Doctors said I'll be able to get it off in about a week," Makoto answered, "Which cannot be any sooner, having a broken arm sucks."

"Well then let this be a reminder for your reckless action and so that it doesn't happen again," Taka commented.

"Don't have to tell me twice," Makoto agreed, "I am never going to get in a situation where this can happen ever again." Although knowing his life, Makoto had a feeling he won't be able to uphold that.

"Don't jinx yourself dude," Leon warned.

"Do you actually believe in jinxes?" Toko asked

"This is Makoto we're talking about, dude's been jinxed his whole life," Leon explained.

"I mean he was late for orientation," Hagakure said.

"There's that whole issue with his bathroom door," Mondo added.

"He tends to lose in games involving luck, does he not?" Celeste asked with a hand hiding a smile.

"Honestly it's a miracle how you're still considered the Ultimate Lucky Student," Byakuya concluded harshly while reading a book, not even bothering to look up.

"Geez, thanks for the encouragement guys," Makoto said sarcastically.

"Don't mention it," Leon smiled.

"At least your luck isn't shared with your sister," Toko said.

"I still can't believe you managed to become best friends with Komaru," Makoto said.

"W-what? Y-you think I'm incapable of having a best friend?" she asked harshly.

"I believe what Makoto means is that it's hard to imagine you easily becoming best friends with her when it took a while before you considered us friends," Kyoko explained.

"Especially considering how you and Komaru are completely different," Sayaka added, "You despise manga while she's practically an otaku."

"That's an understatement," Makoto muttered.

"She's just less annoying than you guys, simple as that," Toko responded.

"That's all your gonna say, there's got to be more than that," Leon said.

"Why are you guys so interested in Komaru and me?" Toko asked.

"Do not pair me up with these credens," Byakuya said in the middle of his reading, "I couldn't care less who you consider friends."

"You all are just reading too much into thi-ahchoo!" Toko suddenly sneezed, causing everyone to tense up knowing what is going to happen now.

Toko suddenly started cackling loudly while her freakishly long tongue was now sticking out. "Gyahahahaha! Howdy bitches, Syo's back in town!"

"And just like that, the peace and quiet have come to an end," Byakuya said in annoyance.

"As if things couldn't get more insane in this class," Kyoko said.

"I am hurt, truly hurt!" Syo said in mock anger, "I show up after months of being dormant and this is how you all treat me."

"Not our fault you're a mood killer," Mondo responded.

"I am not a-" Syo retorted before she saw Makoto and his cast, "Whoa Big Mac, who did you piss off?"

"What?" Makoto questioned.

"Don't play dumb with me, I'm talking about that!" Syo said, pointing at Makoto's broken arm, "How did this happen? Oh let me guess, you got rejected by some girl and they broke your arm to say no."

"Wh-what no, that is not what happened?" Makoto answered, his face red.

"Oh, was it a guy? Had no idea you swung that way Macoco," Syo teased.

"I didn't break my arm from getting rejected, I didn't even ask anyone out!" Makoto retorted, his face even redder.

"Then spill it, or I might have to get it out of you," Syo said while holding a pair of scissors, making Makoto's eyes widen in horror.

"Syo, no weapons in class!" Ishimaru scolded.

"Oh shut it Teacher's Pet I was only joking," Syo assured, "Little miss brother complex would be upset if I hurt her favorite brother, and I do not want to deal with that."

"I have had enough of this insanity," Byakuya said as he closed his book and stood up, "I'm leaving now."

"Oh, wait for me master~!" Syo said as she followed Byakuya out of the classroom.

The rest of the class was in silence for a moment before Leon spoke up, "Does it not bother anyone else that Hope's Peak has a serial killer as one of their students?"

"Yeah, that is some cause for concern," Chihiro agreed.

"Hey Kyoko why haven't you arrested her yet?" Hagakure asked.

"Orders from the headmaster," she answered, "But he has said that if Syo gets too out of line then I can arrest her so I have my eye on her."

"Makes sense I guess," Sayaka said, "I mean, while Syo is certainly not a good person, she hasn't killed anyone since the year started right?"

"It seems Ms. Fukawa is able to keep her other self in control," Hifumi noted.

"Doesn't make it easier for us," Makoto said, his face still red from Syo's comments.

"Agreed," Sakura said.

\---

After they had left class Makoto and Kyoko were in the gymnasium, with Kyoko standing in the center as Makoto watched her from afar. After Kyoko had obtained her Stand, Makoto has been helping her understand Mystery Girl more and her limitations by giving her tests. Since Mystery Girl's powers involve enhanced perception, these tests usually involve her finding something hidden.

"Alright Kyoko, I asked the Ultimate Hider to hide something here in the gymnasium," Makoto explained, "You know the drill, use your Stand to try and find it."

Kyoko nodded in understanding as she readied herself before she spoke, "Mystery Girl."

Mystery Girl materialized beside Kyoko, already smoking her pipe. She breathed out smoke before the pipe disappeared, "Shall we begin, Mistress Kirigiri?"

"Indeed we shall," Kyoko responded. Mystery Girl straightened her monocle and Kyoko's vision suddenly changed. Whenever she used Mystery Girl to search, the world around her had a purplish hue to it and time seemed to slow down for her. As she looked around the gymnasium, her vision always zoomed in and out searching for whatever she was looking for.

She looked towards the podium and when her vision zoomed in on it she saw a faint handprint on it. Kyoko walked over to it and noticed the flooring right beside the podium seemed slightly out of place, like a puzzle piece that was the right shape but was too small by a bit. She reached down and was able to pick up the flooring, revealing it to be a trap door leading to a small hole.

Inside the hole was a pair of small dolls that were holding the hands of each other. Kyoko couldn't help but smile as she picked up the dolls, "Bojobo dolls, how sweet Makoto."

"Well I remember you once said that you liked them so I figured why not," Makoto said while scratching the back of his head sheepishly, "Also you were able to find them in just one minute, nice job."

"It was nothing really, I've been using Mystery Girl for a few cases and she has proven very useful," Kyoko said.

"It's nice to know you've already gotten accustomed to having a Stand," Makoto said.

"It took some time yes, but now that I have grown to having a Stand she has certainly made everyday life interesting," Kyoko said.

"How so?" Makoto asked.

"Well for one Mystery Girl has allowed me to notice things I haven't noticed before," she explained before giving Makoto a teasing look, "Such as how your eyes tend to wander towards me during class."

"O-oh really, th-that's something I didn't know about myself," he responded hastily as a blush formed on his face.

Kyoko let out a small laugh at Makoto's reaction before deciding to save him from any more embarrassment, "Tell me Makoto, do you also have Leon and Sayaka practice with their Stands?"

"Yeah I do, since they also got their Stands recently like you I have them practice with them as well," Makoto explained, "With Leon I have him use Perfect Game to see how much he can throw whatever he throws and with Sayaka I have her use Siren's Sound to see how much it can affect sound waves."

"And how has it been for them?"

"Quite good really, we learned that Perfect Game has a limit to how far an object has to be for him to control it and we also now know that Siren's Sound can actually be used to send messages from far away distances," Makoto explained.

"Interesting, how exactly do you know how to train effectively with Stands?" Kyoko asked.

"Back when I was still learning about Stands Mr. Joestar practically drilled this kind of stuff into my head as he helped me with my Stand," Makoto explained.

"And how did your Stand training go?" Kyoko asked.

"Let's just say Mr. Joestar's methods were… ," Makoto started as he flashed back to his time with Joseph.

\---

*Five months ago*

"You want me to what?!" Makoto exclaimed.

Currently, both him and Joseph were on the rooftop of a building that was at least two stories tall. The reason for this was for Makoto to learn more about the capabilities of his Stand, at least that was what Joseph told him. However, he did not expect what it was that he told him to do.

"I want you to use your Stand to try and leap to that other building," Joseph said as he pointed to another rooftop that was a good distance away from them.

"A-Are you insane, I can't do that!" Makoto retorted, "That's too far away, I wouldn't be able to make it."

"Nonsense, it's only five meters," Joseph said nonchalantly, "Besides with your Stand you should make that jump no problem."

"Did you forget how it works, it's all by chance," Makoto explained, "Plus even if I did get a good roll there's no way for me to make it."

"Makoto you just don't get it do you," Joseph sighed, "The whole point of having a Stand is to do things you aren't normally capable of."

"What do you mean?"

"The moment you got Lucky Number, your life changed," Joseph explained, "Your Stand is capable of incredible things, as so are you Makoto." Makoto was at a loss of words as Joseph continued, "You need to let go of what you couldn't do before and what you can do now. A Stand is capable of many things, but it's limited to the use of the User."

As he said that Joseph jumped off the building they were on and towards the other one. He reached his hand out towards a pole on the roof as Hermit Purple shot and wrapped itself around it before pulling Joseph towards it. He landed safely on the rooftop as Hermit Purple disappeared, "You see, a jump like this is nothing to a Stand User. Now you give it a go!"

Makoto just stood on the rooftop staring at Joseph before deciding to go for it. He took a deep breath and took out Lucky Number from his pocket. "I jump across to the other rooftop," he said as he tossed his Stand to the other rooftop, "What did it land on?"

"If I tell you that'd be cheating," Joseph said with a smile, "You just gotta hope for the best."

Makoto looked displeased for a bit before focusing. He started running towards the edge and as soon as he got to it he jumped off with all his might. Makoto felt the sensation of being a midair for a few seconds before he successfully landed on the other rooftop with a roll. He looked back in shock at him actually making it and looked down at Lucky Number, which had landed on 17.

"What did I tell you kid," Joseph grinned, "I knew you could make it."

"That… that was incredible," Makoto managed to get out as he was still stunned at his accomplish it.

"Well go on, don't stop there," Joseph said, "Try again."

Makoto nodded as he picked up Lucky Number, "I jump across to the other rooftop." He tossed the die and when it stopped rolling Makoto ran towards the edge again. However, when he reached the edge Makoto tripped and fell over the roof, screaming as he went down.

"Oh no!" Joseph exclaimed as he went over to the edge. He looked down to see that Makoto had fortunately landed on a dumpster and the trash had broken his fall. Joseph looked over at the other rooftop and used Hermit Purple to bring Lucky Number to him, seeing that it had landed on 2. "You ok Makoto?"

"...I'm alright," Makoto responded.

\---

"... they were bizarre," Makoto finished.

"I see," Kyoko said, "Even so you seem to hold this Joestar fellow in high regard. Why is that?"

"Well because he's helped me understand my Stands and how to use it," Makoto explained, "I'm not sure what I would do without his help."

Kyoko smiled, "He sounds like a nice man."

"He is yeah," Makoto said, "Now you'll say, 'I look forward to meeting him one day,'"

"... what was that?" she asked in confusion.

"Dang it, every time," Makoto groaned, "Mr. Joestar has this trick where he's able to predict what somebody will say next. I've been trying to do that myself because it's a cool trick but I just can't do it."

Kyoko let out a small laugh at his explanation, "Well you're not exactly wrong, I would like to meet him myself. And have you tried asking him about that trick of his?"

"I have, but he says it's a secret and won't say anything," Makoto explained.

"Well, guess you have to keep trying," she said.

"Ugh, will you two quit the whole lovey-dovey act!"

Makoto and Kyoko looked over at the bleachers to see Syo who was watching them, "You two are so sweet it's sickening. Why don't you just bang each other already?"

"S-Syo?! When did you get here?" Makoto asked as he was blushing madly.

"Been here for a while," Syo explained, "Master ordered me to keep an eye on Big Mac for anything suspicious… wait I wasn't supposed to tell you that… forget you heard that."

"No," Makoto said.

"Well I'll be taking my leave then, later lovebirds!" Syo said as she jumped off the bleachers and vanished behind them.

"... we know you're still there," Kyoko said.

"No you don't… I mean… no you don't!" Syo said before quickly running out of the gym.

"...well… that happened," Makoto said.

"What would Byakuya gain from having her watch you?" Kyoko inquired.

"My guess is he's still suspicious of what happened at the hospital," Makoto answered, "I had a feeling this would happen."

"I suppose that would make sense," Kyoko said.

"Need to be careful around him," Makoto said, "But it shouldn't be too bad, I mean what's the worst Byakuya could besides insult me."

\---

"I gave you one simple task Syo, to watch Makoto Naegi," Byakuya groaned in annoyance, "But clearly you were too incompetent to even fulfill that."

"It ain't my fault him and miss ice queen together got me bored," Syo retorted.

Byakuya pinched the bridge of his nose in extreme annoyance, "Regardless, was there anything useful that you found out."

"Nope, all sounded like nonsense to me," she responded, "Although, they kept mentioning about some guy Macky met a while ago. Some old-sounding geezer named Joestar or something."

"Joestar?" Byakuya inquired, his interest peaked at the mention of that name.

"You know who he is?" Syo asked.

"No, but the Joestar is a name that I have heard about," Byakuya answered, "For some reason, my family has taken an interest in them, for what reason I am unaware of. I have to look into this."

"So I did something good right?" she asked before looking at Byakuya with a look that just screamed perverted, "What should my reward be, master~?"

"Do whatever you wish," Byakuya said, "I have no need for you anymore."

"Ah come on don't be like that," Syo swooned, "Surely there must be something for-achoo!" Toko looked around in confusion as she suddenly regained control, "W-what happened?"

"Nothing of your concern wrench," Byakuya said harshly before walking away, "Do yourself a favor and shower, I could smell your horrendous stench a mile away."

"O-Of course master!" Toko exclaimed, before blushing madly and holding herself, "He wanted me to smell nice. Oh how he cares~"

As Toko walked away, unbeknownst to her there was something watching her from afar. Whatever was watching her resembled a small bear on two legs, its right half was white and its left half was black with a red, jagged eye. "Puhuhuhu, let's see what this one has to offer." The bear's right paw flipped upward as the arrow appeared. They aimed it right at Toko before the arrow shot out towards her.

\---

Shortly after they had left the gym Kyoko had left to finish up on a case she had been working on, leaving Makoto on his own. He had decided to walk around the courtyard of Hope's Peak to try and clear his mind. But he didn't have much luck with that as his mind kept running back on one certain thought, the mastermind.

His encounter with Despair Syndrome is still fresh in his mind, a reminder of how twisted this person is. And now that they're also using Makoto's friends against them, he knew they had to be stopped. Makoto isn't someone to hate anyone, but whoever the mastermind is he despises them.

"Once I find them, I'll make sure they pay for everything they have done," he said to himself.

"Well that's not like you at all Big Mac," a familiar voice said, causing Makoto to sigh in annoyance.

Third time today that Syo has come up to him, and it's not getting any less annoying, "What now Syo?"

"Oh don't be like that Macky, I just want to ask something," Syo said, "You and miss Ice Queen mentioned something that I'm curious about."

"And what would that be?" Makoto asked, wanting this conversation to end.

"Something about… Stands," Syo answered with a glint in her eyes, causing Makoto's eyes to widen in shock.

Instinctively he had a hand in his pocket, holding Lucky Number in case he needed it, "What about them?"

"Oh I was just wondering what kind of Stands you and her have that's all," she said innocently.

"Why do you want to know?" Makoto asked, "And more importantly how do you know about Stands?"

"Oh that's easy," Syo said as she brought a hand to her mouth, "Cause I got one of my own." Syo bit her hand as hard as she could, blood spewing out from her bite. As she retracted her hand away, the blood on it started to move around before forming to one long tendril coming out from Syo's hand.

"Your Stand… is your blood?" Makoto asked in worry.

"Yep, didn't know Stands can be like that?" Syo asked, "Well, what do you think of my Bad Blood?"

"Just what are you planning Syo?" Makoto asked, getting ready to defend himself.

"Oh just to see how your Stand can fare…" she started as she thrust her hand forward, causing Bad Blood to rush towards Makoto, "Against mine!"

Makoto immediately moved out of the way of Bad Blood's attack just as he took out Lucky Number. Before he could use it though, it was knocked out of his hands as a pair of scissors was thrown right at him.

"Did you forget about my little tools," Syo smiled as she held several scissors in her free hand just as Bad Blood attacked again. Makoto jumped out of its attack and barely managed to duck under some scissors that were thrown at him.

Just as he dodged another attack from the Stand, Makoto was able to reach Lucky Number and grabbed it before Syo could knock it away, the scissors being implanted into the ground. He then got an idea as he picked up the scissors, "I throw these scissors straight towards Syo." He tossed Lucky Number and quickly stepped out of the way of another strike from Bad Blood before he threw the scissors.

However, Syo brought up her other hand and the scissors impaled it to Makoto's shock. Syo's grin grew wider, "Did you really think you could use my own scissors against me? You're giving me more ways to use my Stand, Macky!" Syo pulled the scissors out of her hand as another tendril of blood came from the wound.

Makoto looked over at Lucky Number to see it had landed on 6, making him groan in annoyance, "You have got to be kidding me. Why does my Stand have to be the worst at times like this?"

"Sounds like an incompetent Stand, too bad for you," Syo taunted, "I don't have problems like that with Bad Blood, so I can do things like this!" The blood tendrils started to take shape before hardening into two blades that resembled the halves of a pair of giant scissors.

"Ok, you are just ripping off that one anime now!" Makoto exclaimed.

"Like I give a damn!" Syo retorted before charging at Naegi with her new scissor blades. She swung rapidly with her weapons as Makoto kept moving back and avoiding them, "Oooh~, Makoto has some moves, who would've thought. But how long can you keep this up?"

As she said that one of her blades managed to nick Makoto in the shoulder, making wince a bit in pain. Seeing as he was unable to keep up anymore, Makoto ducked under one of Syo's slashes before knocking her back with a punch to the stomach. While she was stunned Makoto quickly ran over to Lucky Number and grabbed it.

"I dodge the next attack from her blade and shoulder tackle into Syo," he said as he threw his Stand. It landed on 16, giving Makoto the confidence to run towards Syo again. She swung her scissor blades at him but Makoto rolled under them and launched himself off the ground as his shoulder impacted Syo in the face and she was knocked back into a wall.

The hit from Makoto was so hard that some blood was running down Syo's lips. However this just caused her to smile as she licked off some of the blood, "You're tougher than I figured you for Makoto, but it's not enough against me."

"Why are you doing this Syo?" Makoto asked, already holding Lucky Number, "You never attacked anyone since you got into Hope's Peak so why now?"

"What can I say I got bored," Syo responded as she got back up from the wall, her blood scissor blades dispersing back into her wounds, "Besides, I just got this Stand and I wanted to take it out for a test drive." Syo held her hand out as a shard of blood launched out from her wound and struck Makoto's shoulder. He groaned in pain as he held his shoulder, his own blood seeping out from the injury.

"Projectiles bitch!" Syo cackled, " Bet you didn't know I could shoot my blood like that did you? And there's plenty more where that came from." Bad Blood morphed into another tendril and wrapped around Makoto before lifting him off the ground and tossing him into a nearby tree, making him groan in pain.

"Ow, at least I'm not hitting my broken arm," Makoto said before rolling away from another shard of blood, "Ok this is bad, need to get out of here now." He then grabbed some dirt from underneath him, "I toss this dirt at Syo's eyes to blind her and giving me time to escape." He tossed Lucky Number before running up to Syo, moving away from more blood shards before tossing the dirt right at Syo.

"Ahh! Cheap trick Macky, cheap trick!" Syo exclaimed as she frantically rubbed the dirt off of her eyes.

Not wasting his moment Makoto quickly grabbed Lucky Number, which landed on 14, before quickly running away just as Syo was able to see. She grinned as she saw Makoto run before quickly giving chase, "You can run Makoto, but you can't hide~!"

\---

Kyoko sighed in relief as she just finished the report for her last case for the day. While she does enjoy working on cases, she honestly despises the mandatory reports that come with them. They were just so tiring and she always dreaded doing them at the end of a case.

"These reports get even worse the more I do them," she sighed, "Why couldn't you make these easier like you do with the investigations."

"I apologize Mistress Kirigiri, but that is simply out of my power," Mystery Girl responded as she appeared beside Kyoko.

One of the benefits that Kyoko has found for having a Stand with their own personality is that she always has someone to talk to. She has held conversations with Mystery Girl whenever she is alone, no matter how small they may be. Mystery Girl also helps by providing some insight when conducting investigations, truly Kyoko was grateful for having a Stand like her.

"I guess this is just one aspect of detective work that will always be tiresome," Kyoko sighed as she put away the report.

"Indeed it shall," Mystery Girl said as she smoked into her pipe.

"I have been curious, why do you have a smoke pipe?" Kyoko asked.

"You tell me," Mystery Girl said as she breathed out the smoke, "Stands are meant to be an interpretation of our user's psyche, so it has something to do with you. So what part of you gives me a pipe?"

"I'm a detective, not a psychologist," Kyoko responded, "There are some aspects of me that even I don't understand."

"Such as your feelings for Makoto Naegi?" Mystery Girl asked, making Kyoko tense up a bit. "Again, I am a part of your psyche so I know everything about you and I am aware you feel strongly for him. You just are unsure whether those are romantic feelings or not."

"What are you, my therapist?" Kyoko asked slightly annoyed

Mystery Girl chuckled as she took another breath from her pipe, "I just wish to help you understand them more so that it won't come as a distraction in later investigations."

"I appreciate the thought, but I rather not talk about this right now," Kyoko answered, "Especially since we have bigger problems right now."

"Ah yes, the mastermind as you have dubbed them. This will most certainly be a difficult mystery to solve."

Kyoko nodded in agreement before loud noises could be heard outside her dorm room. Curious, she exited her dorm to investigate and as she looked down the hallway, she saw Makoto running as Syo chased after him while cackling, Bad Blood being morphed into scissor blades again.

"That certainly doesn't look good," Mystery Girl stated.

"No, no it does not," Kyoko said before she followed them.

\---

Makoto was panting heavily as he stopped running to try and regain his breath. He could hear Syo's laughter getting closer as he looked around for anything that could help. He soon noticed he was just outside the archery room and got an idea as he went in. He quickly closed the door just as more of Syo's blood shards were shot at him, impaling the door and just barely missed Makoto.

He quickly grabbed one of the bows on the wall and an arrow as he got out Lucky Number. "I shoot an arrow into Syo and pin her against the wall," he said before rolling the Stand. He didn't have time to see what it landed on as Syo threw the door wide open.  
"Got you cornered now Macoco," Sho said as she held out her scissor blades.

"Yep you did," Makoto said calmly, much to Syo's confusion. He then smirked, "Right where I want you." He quickly fired the arrow at Syo's hand and was able to impale through it and pinned her to the wall, her blood scissor blades dispersing as her focus was now on the arrow in her hand.

"The hell, since when could you shoot with a bow?" she asked.

"I don't, I just hoped that I rolled a good number for this plan to work," Makoto said, "Also, shouldn't you be in pain because of that arrow?"

"This hand got stabbed by my own scissors, this arrow is nothing compared to that," Syo answered.

"... ok," Makoto said, unsure what else to say.

The door suddenly opened as Kyoko came barging in, only to see the situation had already been already resolved, "Guess I wasn't needed."

"Kyoko, what's up?" Makoto asked.

"I saw you running from Syo and thought you needed some assistance," Kyoko answered as she over at Syo, "But it looks like that is not the case."

"Should've gotten here earlier sister, Macky here was in so much trouble before," Syo laughed.

"Seriously Syo what is with you?" Makoto asked, "How did you even get a Stand?"

"Not entirely sure, it happened when Miss Marose was out. But some arrow stabbed her real good and she had been bleeding like crazy!" Syo answered.

"I don't like where this is going?" Makoto asked.

"Next thing I knew, I could feel us slowly dying," Syo said in a serious tone, "Whatever that arrow did, the other me couldn't handle it. But I could." The blood on Syo's other hand started to form as both Makoto and Kyoko stood back, "I was able to take over and suddenly, I was fine. I felt stronger than ever before, and now I got some new skills. And bad news for you Big Mac, cause I chose you to be the first one my Stand kills. Gyahahahahah!"

To both Makoto and Kyoko's surprise, Bad Blood formed on Syo's free hand before it completely cut off Syo's trapped arm. Syo just laughed more as she stood up, blood gushing out from the stub of where her arm was.

"Are you insane?!" Makoto exclaimed.

"Oh like you wouldn't believe it!" Syo laughed before the blood in her stub morphed into one long tendril connected to what was left of her arm. The tendril whipped itself towards Makoto, who was barely able to roll out of the way.

"Ok so this isn't as finished as I thought," Makoto said.

"Any ideas?" Kyoko asked as she ducked under another strike from Bad Blood.

"I got one but," Makoto started before being knocked back as Bad Blood struck him, "She's not making it easy."

"Well of course I'm not, you know how hard it is to fight with only one arm," Sho replied.

"Um, hello, what do you think I'm dealing with!" Makoto exclaimed, motioning to his cast.

"That's besides the point!"

"Do you even know what that means?" Makoto asked.

"Shut it!" Syo shouted angrily as she whipped Bad Blood at Makoto again.

With her focus on Makoto, Syo was unaware of Kyoko behind her. Seeing she was wide open Kyoko summoned Mystery Girl, who then proceeded to land a strong punch on the back of Syo's head which sent her tumbling.

"You should pay more attention to more than just your target," Kyoko said as she walked up to Syo with Mystery Girl right beside her.

"Oh right, you're here too," Syo said slightly dazed, "... good thing I had this prepared."

Before Kyoko could ask in response, she suddenly felt something tightly bind her and Mystery Girl, unable to move. What was odd was that when she looked to see what it was, there was nothing. "What did you do?"

"Gyahahaha, you activated my trap card!" Syo cackled.

"Kyoko!" Makoto exclaimed in worry before he was pushed back to the wall by Syo's tendril of blood. He tried to get out but he was unable to escape the blood's hold on him.

"Oh this was too easy, I thought it would be hard to trick you Ice Queen," Syo said.

"What do you mean?" Kyoko asked as she struggled to escape her invisible bindings.

"Take a closer look, you'll see what I mean," Syo smiled.

Kyoko did so and upon closer inspection and using Mystery Girl's ability, she saw what was going on. Kyoko was being held tightly by thin strings of blood that were coming out of Bad Blood. It was like a network of blood that she fell right into, "Blood?"

"That's right, this is a trick that my Bad Blood can pull off," Syo explained, "While it was going crazy all over the room, I made sure to leave thin strings of it everywhere to set up this move. All I had to do was wait for someone to get covered in them and boom, trapped. I call this move, Blank Space."

"It seems your more cunning than I took you for," Mystery Girl noted.

"You can struggle all you want, but you can't escape my Bad Blood," Syo said, "And as long as you're trapped I can do all sorts of things, like tighten my Bad Blood so much that it cuts right through you." As she said that Kyoko felt the blood binding around her tighten, groaning in pain as it went tighter and tighter.

"Stop it Syo!" Makoto exclaimed, frantically trying to escape from the tendril that held him against the wall, "I thought you said I would be the first to die from your Stand."

"Oh believe me, you will be," Syo said as Kyoko felt the blood loosen up, not enough to set her free but enough that it wasn't painful anymore, "I was just saying that for the hell of it. However, I can't just let her go after seeing all this." Syo pulled out one of her scissors from under her skirt and walked towards Kyoko, "I'll just have to finish her off the old fashioned way."

"No!" Makoto shouted.

Syo grinned as she moved the scissors across Kyoko's neck, making the detective wince from the cold metallic murder weapon, "I normally don't kill girls, but for you I'll make an exception. I'll be sure to make it quick for you."

As Syo prepared to finish off Kyoko, Makoto looked on in anger as he tried to pull off the blood around him, "Leave her alone!"

Suddenly, to the surprise of everyone in the room, sparks suddenly appeared from Makoto's arm and traveled down Bad Blood right towards Syo. As soon as the sparks made contact with her, she yelped in pain as she felt the sparks throughout her body. While it wasn't excruciatingly painful, it felt like the sun was beaming down on her intensely. This caused Syo to lose focus on her Stand as both Makoto and Kyoko were released from their bindings.

"Damn it, what the hell was that?" Syo asked as she felt the strange energy leave her before glaring at Makoto, "What did you just do?!" However, her glare quickly died down when she looked over at Makoto, sensing something different about him.  
Makoto just stared coldly at Syo, his hair making his eyes look darker. For some reason, Syo could feel some sort of aura around Makoto. An aura that could simply be described in just one word.

** _ゴ_ **

** _ゴ_ **

** _ゴ_ **

** _ゴ_ **

Menacing.

All Syo could do was just stare at him in fear as he stood up, "You've done it now Syo, trying to kill Kyoko in front of me was your greatest mistake." Suddenly, Lucky Number's true form appeared right beside him, "I had already rolled a 20 when I rolled to stop you with the bow. If it had ended there, I wouldn't have to use this power against you, but you brought this upon yourself."

Kyoko was unsure what to make of what was going on. She had never seen Makoto act like this before and witnessing it now, she wasn't sure if that was even Makoto anymore. "What happened to him?"

Syo quickly got over her stupor before glaring right at Makoto, "You don't scare me Macky. I don't care what your Stand does, you can't beat my Bad Blood!"

"You sure, your Stand isn't the only one with tricks," he said. The slots that Lucky Number had for shoulders lit up before they started to spin. Everyone just watched as they continued spinning before finally slowing down. When the slots came to a stop, they both landed on a symbol of a light-blue shoe with wings that was in mid-run.

Makoto was then surrounded by an aura the same color as the shoes before he moved forward to Syo. Syo tried to use Bad Blood to hit him, but to her surprise he vanished just before he could land a hit, only to appear right in front of her with Lucky Number lifting her by the neck with its right arm. "Since my arm is broken I had to get close in order to get you like this," he said.

"Makoto, what just happened?" Kyoko asked.

"One in a Million, one of Lucky Number's powers," Makoto explained, not looking away from Syo as she tried to get out of his Stand's grip, "Once while its true form is out I can spin Lucky Number's slots to give me a power up depending on what they land on. In this case, I got a speed boost." Lucky Number balled its left hand into a fist as it got ready to attack.

"Don't think you won that easily!" Syo shouted as Bad Blood went straight towards Makoto's neck, only for Lucky Number to block it with enough force to send all the blood that made up the tendril flying. Syo could only look on as shock as her attack was easily blown away. For some reason, as she was thinking Syo couldn't but feel that this moment would have been an appropriate place for some piano music.

_"This isn't like him, he's not supposed to be this strong or terrifying. Yet I can't help but be scared just by looking at him now,"_ Syo thought as she saw Lucky Number's fist coming right at her, _"What happened? Why is he different? Who are you Makoto?!"_

Using the speed boost that he had gotten, Makoto's Stand proceeded to land punch after punch on Syo's face with its single arm at tremendous speed.

"SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA SAGA!"

Lucky Number then threw Syo in the air before landing one last hit on the side of her head and straight down to the floor, hitting her with enough force to cause a crater the size of Syo's head.

_"SAGATTE!"_

Lucky Number raised its arm from Syo, who was now unconscious with blood all over her head. As Makoto got a closer look, he noticed something on Syo's forehead. As he went to, he soon found out what it was, one of the mastermind's controllers.

Now understanding everything, Makoto had Lucky Number hold the controller in its fist as soon as it started beeping. The controller exploded within his Stand's fists, holding in the explosion without getting hurt. He walked over to Kyoko, "You ok Kyoko?"

"Yes, yes I'm alright," she responded as she looked over at Syo, "So the mastermind got control of her as well."

"Seems like it, I knew something was up. Syo wouldn't just attack so suddenly after so long," Makoto said.

"Indeed, she was just another tool for the mastermind to use," Kyoko said, "With that in mind, you sure did a number on her."

"Yeah I kind of lost it when she went after you," he said.

"Yes, you did," Kyoko said, recalling how Makoto was a moment ago before recalling something else, "By the way Makoto, what was that power you used to set us free?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," Makoto answered, "That just came out of nowhere, I had no idea what it was. It definitely wasn't my Stand I know that much."

Before Kyoko could ask more questions, Syo started to move. However, while she was still unconscious, her blood moved on its own as Bad Blood reached for Syo's arm which was still pinned to the wall.

"How is her Stand still moving when she's unconscious?" Kyoko asked.

"I guess Bad Blood is an automatic Stand," Makoto answered, "It can move on its own without its user controlling it."

Bad Blood removed the arrow that was pinning the arm before bringing it over to Syo. Then, to the surprise of both recipients in the room, it proceeded to reattach the arm back onto Syo, stitching up where it was cut off. The wounds all over Syo's body started to slowly scab up, stopping the bleeding as she proceeded to wake up.

"Ugh, my head is killing me," Syo said as she sat up and holding her now reattached arm to her head. Syo was surprised to see her arm was back, moving it around and flexing her fingers, "Didn't I cut this off?"

"You did, your Stand just managed to reattach it back to your body," Makoto answered, still wary in case Syo was going to attack again.

"It can do that?" Syo asked in shock. Curious, she took out a pair of scissors and, without hesitation, cut off her pinky from her right hand. Shortly after Bad Blood reached out from the cut off finger before reattaching it, Syo flexing the finger as she grinned madly, "That is wicked!"

Syo stood up before looking over to the two, "Don't expect some kind of apology from me or anything like that."

"We weren't," Kyoko said bluntly.

"Good, glad we got that cleared," Syo said, "But I will say once I find whoever was controlling that Panda Reject robot, I am going to cut them up! Boy or not!"

"Well, at least your on our side… I think?" Makoto said unsurely.

"We best leave before someone sees this mess," Kyoko said, leaving the room.

Makoto was about to follow her, before Syo stopped him by grabbing him by the shoulder, "Not so fast Big Mac, there's still something I want to ask you?"

"What is it?"

"I don't know if you figured it out, but as the Ultimate Murderous Fiend to sense these kinds of things from people," Syo said.

"What are you talking about?" Makoto asked.

"For a moment while we were fighting, I sensed killing intent from you," Syo said, making Makoto silent, "You actually wanted to kill me when I threatened her, who knew you had that sort of instinct in you."

"With any luck, you'll never have to see it again," Makoto said, his voice nearly emotionless, "That's a part of me I rather not show whenever I can."

"Tsk, whatever you say Macoco," Syo said before she and Makoto followed Kyoko.

Unbeknownst to the three of them, there was an onlooker that had been watching the whole scene. Monokuma peaked out of his hiding spot once the coast was clear. "Puhuhu, this was an interesting fight to watch. Makoto Naegi, just how much more power are you hiding?" he said as his red eye glowed intensely, "I cannot wait to watch you suffer in despair."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And finally finished, man this was a hard chapter to do. It took so long to try and plan out everything, but I finally managed to get somewhere with it and here it is. Now I'm sure many Jojo fans recognize that energy that Makoto used. To those who don't I won't spoil it but the reason for this is because I wanted Makoto to use both this energy and his Stand for this story. Speaking of Stands, let's get into them shall we.
> 
> Let's begin with Lucky Number's new power, One in a Million. As was explained, the slots that Lucky Number have spin and give Makoto some kind of boost depending on what they land. These range from strength boost, healing, speed boost, etc. I wanted to give a few more powers to Lucky Number and such I introduced this power. The name is derived from the song One in a Million by Lene Lovich in 1978.
> 
> Moving on to Syo's Stand, we have Bad Blood. This Stand is actually Syo's blood, which she can control at will. Her blood can be used either as a long tendril or harden itself into weapons, like the scissor blades from Kill la Kill. I had to make that reference, the fact that Syo is using them just makes sense. And that's not even the end of Bad Blood, as you saw Bad Blood is an automatic Stand so it works even when she's unconscious. And if Syo loses a limb, Bad Blood can easily reattach it, along with heal any injuries she may have suffered. So Bad Blood is practically a lifesaver.
> 
> And there's Bad Blood's other ability, Blank Space. Syo can send out thin strings of blood to create a network of blood that is invisible to her enemies. She can then trap enemies within this network, and the blood is nearly impossible to cut loose from. The network has other uses, but those will be revealed later. Both Bad Blood and Blank Space are named after songs by the same names sung by Taylor Swift.
> 
> Favorite part of this chapter was when Makoto had that menacing aura and practically destroyed Syo, which brings me to another thing about this chapter. Now here's the thing, I have a headcanon that has Makoto going absolutely crazy if any of his friends are hurt or almost killed. Originally, I planned to make a new story out of that concept, but I felt like it would be more appropriate here. And yes, I referenced the piano music from Giorno's theme, I just love that theme song and come on, the theme would fit that scene.
> 
> As always, hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter and keep an eye out for the next one.
> 
> Sain'ofu


	5. Students as a Fine Art

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trouble spurs once again at Hope's Peak as a new Stand user causes trouble for Makoto.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that this one took over a month to get done. This chapter went longer than I had first expected it to, but I was finally able to finish it.
> 
> So without further ado, enjoy.

Another day at Hope's Peak has begun for Class 78 as they all gathered in their classroom. Well, all except one particular student, which was noticed by Leon shortly after walking in, "Hey has anyone seen Makoto?"

"Yeah now that you mention it, he's usually here by now," Sayaka noted, "Wonder where he is?"

"Perhaps Mr. Naegi is merely running late," Hifumi suggested.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Hiro added.

"Actually Makoto told me that he wouldn't be in class today because he was going to the hospital," Kyoko answered, "He said that he was finally getting that cast of his off."

"Oh, bet he's super excited about that," Hina smiled.

"About time too, his constant complaining about it was getting on my nerves," Byakuya said.

"You know, there's something I just realized," Mondo said, "Makoto never actually said how his arm got broken. When I found him the night when it happened, he was just left in an alleyway all beat up, but what do you think happened to him?"

"Now that you mention it, Makoto has been very secretive about that incident," Ishimaru noted, placing a hand on his chin in thought, "What could have possibly gone down that night?"

"Did he perhaps tell you what had transpired that night Kyoko?" Celestia asked.

"Unfortunately, Makoto has yet to tell me what happened to him," Kyoko answered. It was a lie however, she knew about Makoto's encounter with the mastermind's Stand. Of course she couldn't tell everyone else that, so saying that she didn't know was the best option she could do.

"Interesting, to not even tell you," Byakuya noted intriguingly, "What could he possibly be hiding?"

"Guys come on, this is Makoto we're talking about," Hina said, "You're all making it sound like he's a bad person when we all know he's as nice as a person can be."

"Yeah Hina's right," Leon agreed, "I'm sure it's no big deal or anything, what's the worse he could possibly hide." He hoped that would end the discussion, as Leon didn't want any of them to think anything bad of Makoto. It's times like this where keeping the whole Stand thing a secret was hard.

Eventually the whole discussion about Makoto soon died down, especially when the classroom door was kicked open, silencing everybody as a certain fashionista walked in, "Yo what up bitches, guess who's back!"

"Junko watch your language, that is no way a student of Hope's Peak should speak!" Taka immediately reprimanded, "And also you are not allowed to just kick open the door, that would be damage of school property!"

"Not even a minute back and you're already screaming at me Taka," Junko smiled as she walked over to her desk, "Man it's good to be back."

"How was the photo shoot Junko?" Sayaka asked curious.

"Eh, it was ok," Junko answered, "Just the basic stuff you know. Although there were a few memorable and interesting shots we took, if you know what I mean." She winked when she said that last part.

"You actually agreed to those kinds of photos?" Chihiro asked.

"Who am I to deny the public this sexy body," Junko said gleefully, "Seeing as you guys are my classmates, I can show them to you all for free if you want?"

"I'll pass thanks," Mondo said without batting an eye.

"Suit yourself," Junko said, before noticing the absence of someone, "Hey where's the unlucky luckster at?"

"Makoto's at the hospital, he's getting his cast removed today," Mukuro informed.

"Ah, well guess he has to wait a bit before being graced by my presence," Junko said.

"I'm sure he'll be looking forward to that," Kyoko said sarcastically.

\---

"Oh man, it feels good to be out of that cast!" Makoto cheered as he walked out of the hospital. Once the doctors had checked to see if his arm was fully healed, they immediately removed his cast much to his enjoyment. He was really getting annoyed at how much of a hindrance it was and he was more than happy to be rid of it.

Makoto looked down at his right arm, flexing it now that it was free. He smiled as he threw a few punches with it in the air, "So glad that thing isn't holding me back anymore."

"Wonder what I should do now since I said I wasn't going to class today," Makoto questioned himself, "I guess maybe just go around the city."

"How about spending some time with an old friend?"

Makoto's eyes widened as he recognized the voice that just spoke. He quickly turned to where it came from and was met with none other than Joseph Joestar himself, "Mr. Joestar?"

The old man couldn't help but smile when Makoto recognized him, "Been a while Makoto, how's it been?"

"Just fine," Makoto responded as he shook hands with Joseph, "What are you doing here? I thought you went back to New York."

"I'll be happy to explain that, but first we should catch up over something to eat," Joseph answered, "I haven't heard from you since we spoke on the phone a few weeks ago. I want to know how things have been lately for you."

"Oh, sure I'm cool with that," Makoto agreed.

"Excellent," Joseph said as he and Makoto headed out to eat, "We have a lot to talk about Makoto."

\---

Once class had ended for them Class 78 went off to do their own thing. For Leon, it was him being in the gymnasium as he threw baseballs at various targets he set up on his own. Lately he's been spending time here on, under the excuse that he was just practicing. However, that was not an accepted excuse for his Stand, who was watching idly as Leon kept hitting his targets.

"Remind me again why you're doing this?" Perfect Game asked as he tuned his guitar.

"Like I said, just practicing my pitching is all," Leon answered as he threw a baseball, knocking down a cone he used as a target.

"Yeah right, we both know you're an ace at baseball and you never practiced once," Perfect Game responded, "So how about you just admit the real reason for this."

"What's it to you?" Leon asked.

"What, I can't be concerned for my user?" Perfect Game asked, "Even if you don't tell me, I have a good feeling on what it is."

"Oh yeah?" Leon questioned as he hit another target, "What's that?"

"You're still upset about being used and you're pushing yourself to get better to be more useful against the mastermind," Perfect Game said, making Leon freeze for a moment, "Got it in one go huh?"

"Shut up," Leon said as he resumed his pitching, "You just don't get it, I was used as a tool to try and kill my friends, how else am I supposed to feel about that besides upset?"

"Hey I don't blame you, I would be upset too if I was in your shoes," Perfect Game said.

"Doesn't help that you didn't do anything to stop me," Leon said annoyed.

"Like I said, we just do what our users say, no ifs and or buts about it," the Stand reminded.

"Whatever man," Leon said as he prepared to throw another ball at a target, "I need to get better, Makoto can't be the only one defending us. I need to protect my friends as well."

"Like that Sayaka girl you're totally crushing on?"

Perfect Game's comment caused Leon to be caught off guard and his pitch was off from the target. Perfect Game strum its guitar and the ball changed course and managed to hit the target, "You're welcome."

"The hell is wrong with you?!" Leon exclaimed angrily with a red face, "You can't just blurt out random things like that!"

"What does it matter, there's no one else in here with us," Perfect Game said, "And even so, unless they were a Stand user, they can't hear me."

"St-still, you can't just say that!" Leon retorted.

"Geez, who knew you got flustered so easily," Perfect Game smirked.

"Shut up," Leon said annoyed, "You know what, I'm done here. I'm heading back to the dorms." As he said that, Perfect Game dissipated as Leon exited the gymnasium. As he passed by the trophy case, he noticed Hifumi staring at the trophies as he absentmindedly drew in an art book he had out.

"Yo Hifumi, what you up too?" Leon asked.

"Ah Mr. Kuwata, I didn't expect to meet you here," Hifumi answered, "Right now I am just working on my drawing skills for my next work."

"How is drawing the trophy case helping with that?" Leon asked confused.

"I have found that the best way to improve drawing is to draw real objects as accurately as possible," Hifumi answered as he straightened his glasses, "By doing so it allows me to draw more easily for my creations."

"Huh, I suppose that makes sense," Leon said.

"Yes, but I have always found drawing actual people to be a more difficult task. Actually, I have a favor to ask of you," Hifumi requested, "If you don't mind, I was hoping I could use you to aid me in this."

"So what, you want me to pose or something and you just draw me?" Leon asked, receiving a nod from Hifumi, "Eh I don't see why not, knock yourself out dude."

As Hifumi turned to an empty page on his art book, Leon crossed his arms and smirked pridefully as Hifumi started to draw. After a minute had passed, Perfect Game suddenly appeared and posed as well, "Make sure to get my good side."

"What are you doing?" Leon whispered annoyed.

"What, I can't join in on this?" Perfect Game asked.

"Why even bother, he can't even see you," Leon retorted.

"Actually I can," Hifumi answered, not looking up from his artbook as he continued drawing.

"Wait what?" Leon asked in shock.

"I can see your Stand," Hifumi responded, "I'll be sure to include him in this as well."

"I got a bad feeling bro," Perfect Game said.

"Hifumi wait, you're a Stand user too?" Leon asked.

"Why of course, but let's ask a more important question," Hifumi said as he stopped drawing, "How do you think I did on this drawing?"

Hifumi turned his artbook and showed Leon the drawing, which included a completely accurate representation of him and the pose he did. Right beside him was a drawing of Perfect Game, which confirmed that Hifumi could see the Stand. However, before he could ask about this the artbook started to glow brightly, blinding Leon as he covered his eyes. As the light died down, both Leon and Perfect Game were nowhere to be seen.

Hifumi looked down at the drawing and smiled, "Ah yes, this is truly some Fine Art."

\---

After Makoto and Joseph met up at the hospital, they ended up at a restaurant per Joseph's request. "Mmm, good to know that Japan has some killer burgers," Joseph said as he took a bite out of a hamburger that he ordered.

"So Mr. Joestar, what brings you back to Japan?" Makoto asked, eating some fries.

"Two reasons really," Joseph answered after swallowing the food in his mouth, "One, I wanted to check up on how things are going with you and your friend. Has her Stand developed yet?"

"Oh yeah I never told you about that, but yeah Kyoko has her Stand now," Makoto answered, "Its name is Mystery Girl, it allows Kyoko to see even the tiniest little details, which makes it perfect for a detective like her."

"Interesting, it seems she has already grown accustomed to Stands," Joseph noted.

"Yeah she has," Makoto said before grimacing a bit, "But lately, my other classmates have been getting Stands as well. You were right, the person who had the arrow is awakening Stands from them, and then controlling them to attack us against their will."

"That is a problem," Joseph said, "Which brings me to the second reason why I'm here. The Speedwagon Foundation informed me about what had happened and how the arrow got stolen."

"It was my fault," Makoto said, "I tried to stop them, but their Stand was too much for me and they got away with the arrow."

"Don't beat yourself up over it too much, clearly they had more experience with their Stand than you do," Joseph assured, "But anyways, because of that the Foundation sent me over here to help find the arrow."

"Really, well that's great to hear," Makoto said happily before remembering something, "Hold on, I didn't ask this last time but what makes that arrow special, how is it able to awaken Stands?"

"In order to explain that, I need to explain to you a journey I went on because of the arrow," Joseph said, "It all started a few years ago, when my Stand first awakened. In order to get a better grasp of it I seeked out a fortune teller to learn more and I learned how I got Hermit Purple. You see Makoto before I was born, my grandfather had dealt with a vampire named Dio Brando."

"Wait a second, a vampire?" Makoto questioned, "You can't be serious right now?"

"You have a manifestation of your spirit in your pocket that can affect your luck and you think vampires are out of the question?" Joseph asked with a raised brow, "Now you'll think about my answer before saying, 'Ok good point, continue.'"

"... ok good point, continue," Makoto said before gasping in surprise, "Ok you seriously need to teach me how to do that."

"Trade secret my dear boy," Joseph smirked, "Anyways, while my grandfather managed to defeat Dio, Dio actually took over his body during his honeymoon with my grandmother. While she managed to escape, Dio and my grandfather's body were thought to have been lost in the sea. But he eventually resurfaced and gathered a few subordinates, one of which had an arrow. They used it on Dio which awoke his Stand, but because he had my grandfather's body it somehow also awakened Stands in the rest of my family."

"So because your grandfather's body got hit with an arrow, everyone on his side of the family got a Stand?" Makoto questioned.

"Exactly, and while most of use were able to use our Stands no problem, that couldn't be the same for my daughter," Joseph grimaced, "She didn't have the spirit like me and my grandson, and as such her Stand was slowly killing her. So to save her me, my grandson, and some friends ventured out to Egypt to find Dio and kill him. There were six of us in total, and only three of us survived the journey."

"Oh, I'm sorry for your loss Mr. Joestar," Makoto said.

"I almost joined them when Dio drained my blood, but luckily my grandson, Jotaro, managed to kill Dio and transfer that blood to my body, reviving me," Joseph continued, "We later learned about the arrow he used to get his Stand, and we sought out to find it. Which was how we learned more about them."

"It turns out the arrows originated from a meteorite that crashed into Earth 50,000 years ago. When researchers discovered the meteorite, two of them contracted a strange virus from the meteorite," Joseph continued, "While both of them died, one of them had actually shot lightning out of his fingers."

"Wait, does that mean…" Makoto realized before Joseph finished for him.

"Yes, the virus in the meteor is responsible for Stands. Anyone who contracts it and survives is gifted with a Stand," Joseph finished, "Later on, someone actually constructed six arrows from the meteorite, which is how they came to be. When we found out about this, we sought out to find and collect the arrows before they could be used for dark purposes. Jotaro and the friend who survived the journey, Polnareff, are out searching for them, while I'm here to find and obtain the arrow that you found."

"So that's why the arrows create Stand users," Makoto said, "Well, it's nice to know you'll be helping us."

"Of course, and it'll be easier with Hermit Purple," Joseph assured before taking out a note and pen, "Here's the address of the hotel I'm staying at while I'm here. If you need any help or have any new information for me, just come visit me."

He quickly wrote down the address and gave it to Makoto, who pocketed it for later use, "I gotta get going now, I'll see you around Makoto."

"You too Mr. Joestar," Makoto replied as Joseph got up from his seat and left, leaving Makoto on his own. As Makoto got ready to leave as well, he noticed the pen that Joseph used to write the address was left on the table. "Guess he forgot to take this with him, I'll just hold on to it for him," Makoto said as he pocketed the pen and was about to exit the restaurant when his phone began to ring.

He looked at the caller ID to see that it was Sayaka who was calling him, immediately answering after, "Hey Sayaka, what's up?"

_"Makoto, you wouldn't happen to have heard from Leon have you?"_ Sayaka asked with concern in her voice.

"Leon, no I haven't," Makoto answered, "Is something wrong?"

_"We were supposed to meet after class so I could help him with becoming a musician, but he hasn't shown up,"_ she responded, _"I tried calling him but it went straight to voicemail."_

This got Makoto worried. Leon just suddenly disappearing most likely meant another Stand user ambushed him. Which means they'll be after the rest of them as well. Makoto thought of what to do before getting an idea, "Sayaka, wait for me at the front of Hope's Peak. I know how we can find Leon."

_"Really, how?"_

"I'll explain when I meet you, trust me."

_"Alright, I'll see you soon Makoto,"_ Sayaka said before the call had ended.

Makoto quickly left the restaurant and saw Joseph still walking away. "Mr. Joestar wait a second," Makoto called out, causing Joseph to turn towards him, "I might need your help sooner than expected."

\---

Outside the gates of Hope's Peak, Sayaka was waiting for Makoto as per his request. She didn't have to wait long for him to show up, holding what seemed to be a photograph. "Makoto, what's going on?" she asked.

"If I had to guess, Leon got ambushed by another Stand user," Makoto explained.

"You said you knew how to find him, right?" she asked.

"Yeah, although it's going to be more difficult than I thought," Makoto said while holding up the photograph, "Remember when I told you and Leon about how I learned about Stands from a man named Joseph Joestar."

Sayaka nodded in response as he continued, "Well his Stand ability allows him to locate people with a picture, and he used it to find Leon. The only problem is, well just look for yourself."

He handed Sayaka the photograph and she took it and took a look at it. The photo simply showed an open art book with a pen laying beside it. On the page that was shown, it had a drawing of Leon with a drawing of Perfect Game right beside him.

"I don't get it, how is this showing where Leon is?" Sayaka asked.

"I'm not sure, but Mr. Joestar said that his Stand is never wrong," Makoto explained, "So there's gotta be something here that can give us a hint."

Sayaka looked more closely at the photo for anything that could be useful. Yet no matter how hard she looked she couldn't find any sort of clue to Leon's whereabouts, "I just don't get it. Maybe Kyoko and her Stand could find something."

"I was planning on showing it to her after this talk," Makoto said, "If there's anything in this photo that's a clue, she'll find it."

As he was about to enter the school, he was knocked down as someone who was in a hurry bumped into him, causing them to drop what they had been carrying. "Oh I am so sorry, I wasn't paying attention," they apologised as they and Makoto got up.

"Hifumi, what's the rush?" Sayaka asked curiously.

"Nothing special was just heading out to pick up the latest volume of Princess Piggles that had just been released," he answered.

"Alright," Makoto said before noticing the art book that Hifumi had dropped. He bent down to grab it, "Here you dropped… this." Makoto was left silent as he stared at a page that was open when the art book fell.

"Makoto, what's wrong?" Sayaka asked as she looked at the art book, only to be just as stunned as he was. On the page was the exact same drawing of Leon and Perfect Game that was shown on the photograph.

Hifumi quickly grabbed the art book away from them before staring intensely at the two, "You know, it's rude to take a look at other's drawings without their permission."

"Makoto, you don't think?" Sayaka questioned.

"It's the only reason I can think of," Makoto answered, "So you're a Stand user Hifumi?"

Hifumi was quiet for a bit before he chucked. "I admit, I didn't think you would be able to find out it was me until I was too late," Hifumi said as he looked up at them, a gleam in his eyes, "Clearly I have underestimated you two."

"Hifumi, what did you do with Leon?" Makoto asked, already taking Lucky Number out.

"I'll be happy to answer that, Mr. Naegi," Hifumi said as he straightened his glasses, "How about a short demonstration of my Stand?" Hifumi held out the art book, which began to rapidly turn before stopping at a blank page. Hifumi took out a pen from his pocket and immediately started drawing on the artbook at insane speed.

After only ten seconds, Hifumi had stopped drawing, showing that he drawn had a lone wolf that was baring its teeth. He then ripped out the page from the book and it started to glow. As it died down, the page had disappeared and suddenly a wolf had appeared in front of Hifumi, snarling at Makoto and Sayaka.

"What, his drawing came to life," Sayaka said in shock.

Hifumi chuckled, "This is the power of my Fine Art! Just by ripping out a page from it any drawing comes to life and is mine to command!"

The wolf suddenly pounced towards the two, heading straight for Makoto with its teeth ready to pierce its flesh. It moved to fast for Makoto to react and he was knocked down to the ground. The wolf right on top of him snarling.

"Siren's Sound!" Sayaka called out as her Stand was summoned. Sayaka let out a loud screech that was focused on the wolf, knocking it off of Makoto. This gave Makoto enough time to get up just as the wolf recovered from the sound attack.

"I will land a solid strike on the wolf as it pounces at me again," he said as he rolled Lucky Number. The die had just stopped on 15 as the wolf lept towards Makoto again. Once it got close enough, Makoto threw a fist and landed a punch on the wolf's head, causing it to yelp in pain as it went down to the ground.

The wolf suddenly started to shimmer before completely disappearing. "You two are very formidable indeed," Hifumi said as he was drawing something else on Fine Art, "It would be a mistake to underestimate you."

Sayaka didn't waste anytime as she used Siren's Sound to let out another loud screech at Hifumi, but to her surprise he was completely unfazed.

"If you are trying to deafen me Ms. Maizono I'm afraid it won't work," Hifumi said as he pointed at his ear, which had a black earbud in it, "I used Fine Art to create noise canceling earbuds specifically for your Stand. It would be a waste if you interrupt me, my next drawing is almost done."

Hearing this, Makoto grabbed Lucky Number and charged right for Hifumi, determined to stop him from completing it. Just as he reached for him, Hifumi turned Fine Art towards Makoto and Sayaka and revealed his finished drawing, which was of the two and their Stands. That was when the page started to glow as Hifumi began to laugh.

"Behold Fine Art's second ability! If I draw an existing object or person and reveal it to them, then they will get sucked into Fine Art!" Hifumi explained as Makoto and Sayaka covered their eyes from the light, "This was how I trapped Mr. Kuwata, and now you two shall be trapped with him!"

The two of them were helpless as the light grew brighter and consumed them. It eventually died down and both Makoto and Sayaka were gone. Hifumi closed his Stand before he suddenly vanished, with Fine Art dropping down to the floor and was simply left there.

\---

Blankness. That was how Makoto would describe the place he had ended up in after being exposed to Fine Art. It was just an endless blank void with no end in sight.

"Where are we?" Sayaka asked as both her and Makoto looked at their surroundings.

"Well if what Hifumi said was true," Makoto started, "Then we're inside his Stand, Fine Art."

"Is that even possible?" she questioned.

"From what I have learned about Stands, just about anything is possible," Makoto answered.

"Oh he got you guys too huh."

The two of them turned around to find Leon walking up to them. "Leon, so this is where you've been?" Sayaka asked.

"Yep, never saw it coming," Leon said, "Been here by myself for a while, thought I would go crazy."

Perfect Game then appeared right beside him, "You know, technically you weren't alone because of me right."

"You're a part of me, so I was still by myself," Leon corrected.

"Whatever," the Stand replied.

"It appears the three of you have reunited," the voice of Hifumi could be heard throughout the parchment void, causing the trio to look around in confusion, "That will make this easier." Suddenly, a small tornado of paper appeared before dying down with Hifumi appearing where it once was.

"About time you show your face," Leon said angrily, "Now I can finally do this!" Perfect Game strummed its guitar as Leon pitched a ball of air towards Hifumi. However, Hifumu had taken out a pen and somehow drew a shield in the air in front of him, blocking Leon's attack.

"Oh Mr. Kuwata, always so rash," Hifumi said, "Not even a second I show up and you're already trying to pummel me."

"Well maybe I wouldn't have too if you kept me trapped in a world of nothing!" Loen exclaimed.

"Oh, but that is where you are wrong," Hifumi said.

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked.

"Look more closely at this place," Hifumi said with his arms spread out, "Do you notice anything at all, surely you see what I am talking about."

Confused by his words, the three just did what Hifumi suggested and looked around. That was when Makoto noticed that there was a certain texture to the world. "Is this… parchment?"

"Indeed it is Mr. Naegi!" Hifumi answered, "You three have been sucked into my Stand. The world we are in are the pages of Fine Art, where you three shall remain forever."

"Let us out Hifumi!" Sayaka demanded.

"Oh, why would I do that?" Hifumi asked, "That would defeat the purpose of bringing the three of you in here."

"Either you let us out or we'll make you," Leon threatened.

Hifumi only laughed at Leon's threat, "Oh Mr. Kuwata, that will not be possible. For you see…" Hifumi suddenly vanished, much to the surprise of the three. "Inside Fine Art, I am king!" Hifumi suddenly appeared behind Leon, wielding a large mallet

Before he could react, Leon was struck by the mallet and was sent flying, crashing right into Makoto who fell down from the impact.

"Leon! Makoto!" Sayaka exclaimed in worry as she went over to help them up.

"Hehehe, now do you see?" Hifumi asked as the mallet disappeared, "Inside my Stand I have control over everything. I can be anywhere, I can draw anything I want, and even you three aren't off limits of my control."

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked as he and Leon got up.

Hifumi laughed as he rapidly drew in front of him. Makoto suddenly felt something floppy on his head and something moving behind him. He brought a hand hand up to his head and felt a floppy dog ear. A hand to the other side of his head told him he had two of them and when Makoto looked behind him, he had a dog tail the same color as his hair attached to him.

"You cannot be serious right now," Leon said annoyed. Makoto looked at him to see he had two devil horns growing out of his head and a pointed tail behind him to go with them.

"Ahh! Hifumi you j-jerk!" Sayaka said embarrassingly. Makoto and Leon turned towards her to see that Sayaka was blushing madly as she now had two grey cat ears and a grey tail with black stripes.

"Hehehe, now do you understand my power," Hifumi said boldly, "I am invincible inside Fine Art!"

"Hah, this proves nothing," Leon retorted, "All you did was make Makoto more innocent, me more cool, and Sayaka more cute."

"I do not want to be a cat girl Leon!" Sayaka exclaimed.

"Innocent?" Makoto questioned as his tail drooped down.

Hifumi just scoffed unimpressively, "Say whatever you wish, but it does not change the fact that you are trapped in my Fine Art. Now if you excuse me, I must go get our remaining guests. But I shall leave you with a parting gift to entertain yourselves." Hifumi was suddenly surrounded by a tornado of pages as he disappeared when it died down.

"And he's gone, so now what?" Leon asked.

"I'm not sure, I never dealt with a Stand like this one before," Makoto answered. His dog tail wagged as he thought about what to do, which caused both Leon and Sayaka to stifle their laughter, "What?"

"Sorry dude, it's just," Leon said as he continued holding his laugh, "It's hard to take you seriously with that tail."

"The ears don't help much either," Sayaka smiled, "They really do make you look like an innocent puppy."

Makoto just blushed a bit before turning away. "At least Kyoko isn't seeing me like this," he whispered to himself. That was when he remembered what Hifumi said and his eyes widened at the realization, "Oh no, Kyoko!"

Makoto's sudden outburst caused Leon and Sayak to stop laughing and look at him. "Whats about Kyoko?" Leon asked.

"Remember what Hifumi said, he went to get our remaining guests," Makoto explained, "He has to be talking about Kyoko and Syo."

"Oh no, if they get trapped in here with us it's all over," Sayaka said in worry.

"Um not to turn away from the current problem but did you all forget what else the fat kid said," Perfect Game said, getting their attention, "Something about a parting gift."

"Uh yeah, what do you think he meant by that?" Leon asked.

The ground suddenly began to tremble as a loud bang could be heard. The three turned around to see something huge being drawn out of nothing.

"Hifumi must be drawing something on Fine Art right now," Makoto said in worry, "And since we're in the Stand, whatever he draws becomes real here."

"This is bad," Sayaka worried.

Soon the drawing was finally finished, revealing to be a full sized T-Rex. Once the T-Rex was finished being drawn, it let out a huge roar which caused the trio to cover their ears. The T-Rex then looked over at them, causing them to worry.

"Now hold on, we'll be fine," Leon said confidently, "So long as we stand completely still, the T-Rex can't se-" He was interrupted as the dinosaur roared again and started walking towards them. "... Jurassic Park you lied to me!"

"Run!" Makoto shouted as the three of them began to run away from the T-Rex, as it continued chasing after them.

"What do we do, we still don't know what to do about Hifumi getting the other two!" Sayaka exclaimed as she ran.

"Not to worry, I already warned Kyoko that there was an enemy Stand user," Makoto explained.

"How?!" Leon asked.

"When Sayaka told me you were gone, I had prepared a text to her saying there's another Stand user," Makoto answered, "Before we got sucked in I was able to send it to her. She'll know we're dealing with an enemy Stand."

"But you didn't tell her what kind of Stand Hifumi has, or that he's the Stand user right?" Sayaka asked, "How is she supposed to figure it out."

"She's the Ultimate Detective remember, she'll definitely figure it out," Makoto answered.

"Less talking more running!" Perfect Game exclaimed as the T-Rex roared again.

"Why are you still here?! We're the ones running, you don't even have legs!" Leon shouted angrily.

"Oh yeah, good point," Perfect Game realized before disappearing.

"You jerk!"

The dinosaur roared again as it got closer, causing the trio to run much faster in order to escape its jaws.

\---

Makoto: There's an enemy Stand user nearby. Be on alert.

Before Kyoko even got Makoto's text, she was already feeling something bad was amidst. But this text now confirms that feeling. She tried calling Makoto to see if he was ok only for it to go straight to voicemail, which did nothing but increase her worry.

"It appears this Stand user has gotten the drop on Makoto," Mystery Girl noted as she appeared beside Kyoko, "Clearly they are a formidable opponent."

"I can't get in touch with Leon or Sayaka either, I think it's safe to say the Stand user got to them as well," Kyoko said, "Looks like we're on our own for this one."

"What about Syo?" Mystery Girl questioned.

"You really want to rely on her for assistance?" Kyoko asked bluntfully.

"Valliant point," the Stand responded, "Any idea where we should begin our investigation, Mistress Kirigiri?"

"The text he sent also had an image attached to it," Kyoko answered, "Perhaps Makoto has obtained a clue for the user's identity."

Kyoko opened the attached image on her phone, which was the same photograph of the art book and pen with the drawing of Leon and Perfect Game. At first glance the image didn't seem to reveal much, but Kyoko knew better. If Makoto sent her this photo, then it must be for a reason.

Her vision already changing as Mystery Girl's ability kicked in, her sight zooming in on the photo for any revealing clues. It didn't take long until she found one particular detail in the picture, the pen. While the picture had it mostly in shadow, making it difficult to see, it wasn't a problem for Kyoko's enhanced sight. The pen was mostly pink with different colored hearts decorating it, but there was one detail about it that was almost impossible to miss with her eyesight. The pen's clicker resembled a small, overweight girl that was dressed as a cupid.

"Such an odd choice for a pen," Mystery Girl noted.

"Agreed," Kyoko… well, agreed, "But because of it I have a good idea on who the enemy Stand user is. This character is an anime protagonist that Hifumi is practically obsessed with, owning practically every type of merchandise of them."

"I guess this would mean he is the Stand user," Mystery Girl said.

"Seems to be the case," Kyoko said, "We have no choice but to confront him if we wish to save Makoto and the others."

"As you deem so, Mistress Kirigiri," Mystery Girl agreed as she dispersed before Kyoko exited her room to find Hifumi.

\---

"Guys… I don't think… we can keep running… anymore," Leon said tiredly between breaths as he and the others continued running as the T-Rex continued chasing them.

"Tell that to the dinosaur that's set out for us!" Makoto exclaimed.  
"Any ideas?" Sayaka asked as the T-Rex could be heard roaring behind them.  
"Can't you just use Lucky Number to roll for you to kick this lizard in the head?" Leon asked.  
"The actions have to be realistic, how is it realistic for me to kick a T-Rex?!" Makoto retorted loudly.  
"Alright I had enough of this," Sayaka said before she stopped running. As Makoto and Leon were about to ask what she was doing, Sayaka faced the T-Rex as Siren's Sound appeared beside her. Bringing her hands together and taking a deep breath, she let out a loud, deafening, banshee-like scream that caused the T-Rex to stop as it roared in agony from the loud noise.  
As Sayaka kept screaming, Makoto knew she wouldn't be able to keep it going for long and once she stops the dinosaur will just go after them again, As he thought of what to do next, he remembered how Hifumi was able to draw things on the parchment of the world and they came to life. Makoto quickly got out the pen that Joseph had forgotten when they talked.  
"Leon, I think I have an idea," Makoto informed, getting the red-head's attention. Using the pen, Makoto was able to draw on the "air" of the parchment world and drew a small, serrated knife. He grabbed the knife and gave it to Leon.  
"Great thinking Makoto," Leon smiled as he took the knife as Sayaka stopped screaming. While the T-Rex was still stunned, Leon summoned Perfect Game as he got ready to throw the knife.  
"Aidos, Tyrannosaur!" Perfect Game exclaimed, strumming its guitar as Leon threw the knife. The knife flew straight into the T-Rex's eye, causing it to roar in pain. But it didn't stop there as Perfect Game kept playing its guitar, the knife digging deeper into the eye before it completely entered the T-Rex's head through the eye. The dinosaur roared in pain before the knife exited out through the back of its head.  
The T-Rex stumbled a bit before falling on its side before shimmering and vanishing. The three sighed in relief now that the threat was gone. "Thank god that's over," Leon said as he collapsed to the ground.  
"Yeah, but that still doesn't fix the whole trapped inside the Stand situation," Sayaka said.  
"Well sadly, I don't think there's anything we can do," Makoto said, "There's not much we can do while trapped inside Fine Art. It's like Hifumi said, we're stuck here."  
"So what, we're never getting out," Leon said worriedly.  
"I didn't say that, just that we couldn't do anything" Makoto clarified, "There's still Kyoko. She's the only one who can get us out."  
"What about Syo?" Leon asked, receiving blank stares from both Makoto and Sayaka, "... yeah didn't think so either."  
"So I guess all we can do now is wait," Sayaka said.  
"Or do something about that person that's slowly walking over to us," Perfect Game suggested as it pointed to the distance,  


They all looked to see that there was someone walking over to them, but they were too far to see. As they got closer, the three of them got ready in case they were hostile. However, once they were close enough to see, Makoto and the others gasped in shock as they saw who it was.

\---

Hifumi Yamada was feeling really good about himself as he exited the store with a bag in his hand. He took a quick look at the contents of the bag, showing to be a manga titled "Princess Piggles" with the cover being of an overweight girl dressed as a cupid.

"Ah today has truly been a splendid day so far," Hifumi said joyfully, "The latest volume of Princess Piggle now in my hands. Nothing can ruin this for me now!"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that."

Hifumi yelped in surprise at the voice of Kyoko Kirigiri, who was now right behind him looking not all pleased to see him.

"Ah Ms. Kirigiri, to what do I owe the pleasure?" Hifumi asked slightly nervous.

"I think you know exactly what I am here Hifumi," she said threateningly, "What did you do with Makoto and the others?"  


"Mr. Naegi, why I have no idea where is," he answered, "What makes you think I did something to him?"  


"You can cut the act Hifumi, it won't do you any good," Kyoko said, "Just come out with the truth."  


"The truth? Well the truth is, Ms. Kirigri," Hifumi started before taking a serious expression, "I was hoping to deal with you much later." Fine Art appeared in his hands as Hifumi ripped out a page and it started to glow before a swarm of bees appeared and that headed straight for Kyoko.  


She responded by summoning Mystery Girl, who was able to take out every single bee with a flurry of punches. When the bees stopped, Kyoko saw that Hifumi had summoned a crossbow and was aiming right at her. He fired the arrow but Mystery Girl was able to grab it before it could pierce Kyoko.  


"It appears your Stand is more capable than I thought," Hifumi said, "Even so it pales compared to the power of my Fine Art!" Hifumi began drawing something in his Stand, which Kyoko noticed and quickly rushed towards him. As Mystery Girl was about to attack, Hifumi ripped out the page and a small white ball appeared.  


When Kyoko's stand hit the ball, it suddenly went off and a bunch of smoke appeared. Unable to see in the smoke, Kyoko was unable to see Hifumi, now holding a large mallet, come at her behind. But just before it could hit her, Mystery Girl managed to block the mallet and strike Hifumi, sending him back a bit.  


"I recommend watching your blind spot Mistress Kirigiri," Mystery Girl said.  


"Noted," Kyoko said.  


Hifumi quickly got up and glared at Kyoko, "Well, looks like I underestimated your Stand. You will be more troublesome Ms. Kirigiri."  


"I don't have time for your games Hifumi," Kyoko said annoyed, "What did you do with Makoto?"  


"You really want to know, I'll be happy to let you join them," Hifumi said, quickly tearing off another page, summoning a whole flock of eagles, "Tell me, can your Stand keep up with the power of mine."  


"Let's find out, shall we," Mystery Girl said, getting in a stance as the eagles flew towards her and Kyoko, talons out.

\---

Inside Fine Art, Makoto, Leon, and Sayaka weren't sure how to respond to who they were seeing right now. Seeing Kyoko Kirigiri, their only chance of getting out, trapped inside the book Stand with them would certainly bring that reaction.

"I knew I would find you three eventually," Kyoko said calmly.  


"Kyoko, you're in here too?" Makoto asked.  


"That would appear to be the case," the detective said calmly.  


"Oh great, then that means we're trapped here forever," Leon said defeatedly.  


"Game over man, game over!" Perfect Game exclaimed.  


"I think you misunderstand," Kyoko said, "I am Kyoko, just not the one you know."  


"What do you mean?" Sayaka asked.  


Makoto thought about what Kyoko meant before noticing something was different about her. Kyoko's entire body was tinted the same parchment texture as the rest of the void around them. That was when he realized what she was talking about, "You're a drawing of Kyoko that Hifumi made, right?"  


"Correct," 'Kyoko' confirmed.  


"A drawing, wait so then the real Kyoko is still out in the real world?" Leon asked.  


"For the time being, however I assume Hifumi drew me to be ready in advance for her," Book Kyoko informed.  


"So that means that if Hifumi shows you to our Kyoko, then that's it," Sayaka said.  


"Welp, not much we can do but wait for the outcome," Perfect Game said as it tuned its guitar.  


"Is that really all you have to say," Leon said annoyed.  


"Actually," Makoto said, getting everyone's attention, "There might be something we can do to help Kyoko."  


"What's that?" Leon asked.  


"Think about it, when Hifumi drew us to trap us in Fine Art, was there anything off about the drawing?" he asked.  


Leon and Sayaka thought on Makoto's question before Sayaka answered, "I didn't see anything off, it was just an accurate drawing of me."  


"Exactly, that's the point," Makoto said. Leon and Sayaka looked at him confused, while Drawing Kyoko simply smiled.  


"I knew you would be able to figure it out," she smiled.  


"Can someone explain to me what the hell are you talking about?" Leon demanded.  


"What Makoto is saying," Drawing Kyoko started, "Is that in order for Fine Art to trap a person, the drawing must be completely accurate. Even a small difference between the drawing and the original will result in the Stand failing to work."  


"And if this Kyoko is a drawing Hifumi made to trap our Kyoko," Makoto continued as he took out Joseph's pen, "Then we can change something so that Kyoko won't get trapped in her."  


"Yeah, yeah that can work!" Leon exclaimed.  


"But what should we change on Drawing Kyoko?" Sayaka asked.  


"It doesn't matter what, so long as it's different than the original then Fine Art won't work," Drawing Kyoko explained.  


"Hold on, I just realized something," Leon said, "How come unlike the other drawings Hifumi has made, why are you helping us?"  


"While I may not be the real Kyoko Kirigiri, I still have her personality," Drawing Kyoko answered, "Apparently if Hifumi draws a real person, they retain the same personality as the original inside Fine Art. Because of this, when I realized you three were here I came as soon as I could to lend some aid."  


"Well thank goodness for that," Makoto said, capping the pen.

\---

Kyoko was breathing heavily now as Mystery Girl took out another eagle, causing it to disappear and leaving only one left. The eagle that Hifumi's Fine Art summoned were proving to be more of a challenge than both of them first thought. Kyoko was starting to get tired from using Mystery Girl too long, which could be seen during the fight, as some of the eagles managed to successfully claw Mystery Girl, leaving Kyoko with some scratches.

While all this was happening, Hifimi was drawing something in his Stand. This made her worry a bit as she wasn't sure how long she could keep up with Hifumi's Stand. As the final eagle swooped down towards Mystery Girl, Kyoko decided to rush in and end this as soon as possible.  


"You ready for this?" Kyoko asked her Stand.  


"As they say, now or never," Mystery Girl confirmed.  


The eagle had its talons out ready to claw Mystery Girl, however the Stand simply sidestepped away and landed a solid punch on the eagle as it disappeared. Taking the opportunity Kyoko, with Mystery Girl beside her, rushed over to Hifumi, who merely smirked.  


"It is no use Ms. Kirigiri, everytime you defeat one of my drawings I will always summon another one," Hifumi said as he ripped off another page. This time, however, Kyoko was prepared.  


_"You may always have a drawing ready Hifumi, but it won't help if I already know what it is,"_ Kyoko thought as her vision changed and zoomed in on the page before it started to glow, _"Mystery Girl allows me to see the smallest details, so being able to find out your drawing before its summoned is nothing."_  


When the drawing, which was a wolf, was summoned, Mystery Girl immediately landed a solid punch on the wolf's head and making it disappear. With nothing in her way, Kyoko was about to have Mystery Girl attack Hifumi, but he just smirked much to her confusion.  


"Like I said, it is no use!" he exclaimed as he held Fine Art in front of her, revealing its pages. Hifumi smirked at his victory...only for Mystery Girl to punch him in the face with Fine Art sandwiched between the Stand's fist and his face.  


Hifumi was knocked down to the ground and Fine Art was thrown into the air, only for Mystery Girl to catch it. Kyoko looked at the page that was open, raising an eyebrow in confusion.  


"H-How did you do that, that should be impossible," Hifumi said as he got up, blood coming out from his nose from the hit, "I showed you the drawing in Fine Art, you should have been sucked right in."  


"If you are referring to this drawing of me, I admit it is well drawn and nearly accurate," Kyoko said, "However, I musk ask about these additions you gave me." Mystery Girl showed Fine Art to Hifumi, showing a drawing of Kyoko, but with cat ears on her head.  


"Wh-what, I never drew those!" he exclaimed in shock, "How did they… unless… those three."

\---

Makoto capped the pen closed as he finished adding cat ears to Drawing Kyoko, "There, that should be enough to stop Fine Art from trapping Kyoko."  


"If I may ask, why cat ears exactly?" Drawing Kyoko asked.  


"No reason in particular, we just needed to draw something and cat ears just came to mind," Makoto explained.  


"Ah don't try and hide it Makoto, you just wanted to see how she would look like as a cute cat girl," Leon nudged playfully, "Can't say I blame you, cat girls are always cute. Just look at Sayaka."  


Sayaka had a blank expression on her face as she and Drawing Kyoko looked at each other before sharing a nod with each other.  


"Ow!" Leon exclaimed in pain as both Sayaka and Drawing Kyoko had smacked the back of his head.  


"You need to control what you say Leon," Sayaka said.  


Makoto just chuckled softly at their actions.

\---

"There's something I'm curious about," Kyoko said, "Makoto explained to me that for most Stands, any damage they take is shared to their users. Yet you never got hurt when I attacked your drawings, but does that apply to the Stand itself."  


Realizing what she was about to do, Hifumi quickly ran to grab Fine Art before Kyoko could do anything. It was too late however as Mystery Girl punched the art book, causing Hifumi to fall down in pain. Kyoko looked down at Hifumi with a glare as Mystery Girl started to bend Fine Art, making Hifumi groan in pain. "Last chance Hifumi, tell me how to get Makoto and the others back."  


Hifumi just stayed silent, causing Kyoko to sigh, "Suit yourself. Mystery Girl, if you would?"  


"As you wish, Mistress Kirigiri," the Stand replied before tossing Fine Art to the air, much to Hifumi's horror as he knew what was about to happen. "We only have one thing to say to you now Hifumi," Mystery Girl said as the Stand fell back down towards Mystery Girl. Once it got close enough, the Stand started a barrage of fists onto the artbook, every blow being felt by Hifumi.

_"SAYONARA!"_

With one last hit, Mystery Girl sent both Fine Art and Hifumi a good distance, rendering him covered in bruises and barely conscious.  


"It is done," Mystery Girl commented before taking a breath from her pipe.  


Kyoko walked over to Hifumi, who was trying to stand back up. She reached for his forehead where sure enough, one of the Mastermind's controllers was placed. Taking it out, she tossed the controller to Mystery Girl who caught and closed her fist around it, holding in the explosion.  


"You alright Hifumi?" Kyoko asked.  


"No… everything hurts," Hifumi groaned, barely managing to stand up.  


"My apologies, but I'm afraid you had left us with no choice," Mystery Girl informed.  


"You can go seek medical attention if you wish, but there is something we need you to do first," Kyoko explained.  


"Of course," Hifumi said, picking up Fine Art off the ground. He skimmed through the pages of his Stand before ripping out two pages from it which began to glow. Once the glowing stopped, Makoto, Leon, and Sayaka had suddenly appeared.  


"Freedom at last!" Leon cheered seeing that they were out.  


"Oh thank goodness, no more cat ears," Sayaka said happily, feeling her head that no longer had cat ears.  


"So glad to finally be out of there," Makoto said.  


"I am glad to see you three are ok," Kyoko informed.  


"Thanks to you we are," Makoto replied, "I knew you were able to get us out."  


"While I am thankful for your confidence in me, there is something I must ask," Kyoko explained, "I understand now that it was you three who altered Hifumi's drawing of me, but who was the one who gave me cat ears."  


Makoto could feel a sense of dread from Kyoko, and he immediately started to get nervous. Before he could say anything, however, Leon and Sayaka just had to butt in.  


"Welp, you're on your own bro," Leon said as he began to walk away, "I have had enough with today."  


"Good luck Makoto," Sayaka said with a supportive smile as she too walked away.  


"Could one of you two assist me to the hospital?" Hifumi groaned as he followed them.  


Makoto was sweating nervously as he was left alone at the mercy of Kyoko, who simply just stared at him. While her expression was blank, Makoto could tell there was something terrifying within it. "K-Kyoko, there's a perfectly good explanation."  


"Oh I'm sure there is," Kyoko replied.  


_"Why me?"_

\---

The Togami Library.

Located here are countless books and reports containing just about anything. From police files of cold cases, to books of important and wealthy families, this library had almost every bit of information for the Togami family. And it was here where Byakuya Togami was wandering through the shelves of the library searching for something. After wandering for over ten minutes, he finally found what he was looking for. From a nearby shelf he pulled out a moderately thick file labeled 'Joestar Family.'

After hearing how Makoto was associated with a Joestar, Byakuya was determined to learn as much about them as possible. He knew that his family has been keeping tabs on the Joestars, but he was unaware of the reason for lack of interest. But seeing as how Makoto knew one of them, they may be more important than he had first thought.

With that in mind, he took the file over to a nearby table before sitting down and opening up the file.

"Alright Joestar, let's see what makes you so special. And what Makoto has to do with you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> At long last I am done with this chapter! It's been over a month since I started this chapter and now I am finally finished!
> 
> Once again I apologize for the wait. This chapter took longer than I thought, seriously this chapter is over 9000 words! That's the most I have ever done! I just had so much planned for this chapter, but I didn't think it would be this much.
> 
> Now let's explain the new Stand in this chapter, one of my personal favorites of my original Stands. Hifumi's Stand, Fine Art, takes the form of a blue art book that has an infinite amount of pages. Fine Art has two different abilities, it's first and primary ability is that by ripping out a drawing from Fine Art, that drawing comes to life. This can range from animals, to weapons, to even people, the limit is really Hifumi's imagination. Now whatever he draws is technically part of the Stand, so they can hurt other Stands but also can be hurt by things that are not Stands.
> 
> Fine Art's secondary ability is a powerful one. If Hifumi draws a real person and reveals the drawing to them, they are then trapped inside Fine Art. The inside of Fine Art is basically a world made entirely out of parchment that goes on forever. While in this world, whatever Hifumi draws on the pages of Fine Art become real inside the Parchment World. Hifumi can freely enter Fine Art and while inside he is more or less a god, able to be anywhere and do anything within his Stand. Fine Art's name is a reference to the 2011 song, Debauchery as a Fine Art by Michael Monroe.
> 
> Favorite part of this chapter has to be Mystery Girl unleashing her Stand cry. For some reason, when coming up for a Stand cry for Kyoko, sayonara was the first thing that came to mind. And seeing as how I couldn't come up with anything else, I just stuck with it.
> 
> And yes, Joseph is now part of this story. He was too good to just leave as a cameo in a chapter and flashbacks, I just had to bring him in. However don't expect too much of him as this is Makoto's story, but he'll show up from time to time.  
As always, hoped you guys enjoyed this chapter and keep an eye out for the next one.
> 
> Sain'ofu


	6. The Gambler's hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Once more a Stand user has made their presence known to Makoto, this one being the most difficult he has faced so far. Can Makoto defeat this new user, or will his luck run out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well it has certainly been a while hasn’t it?
> 
> I am sorry for this one taking a long time, I've been putting it off with no excuse really.
> 
> But now we’re getting back right to it. Especially now that I got nothing else better to do while we’re quarantined and I still have some time before school kicks off again. So here we are again people with the next chapter of Makoto’s Bizarre Adventure: Lucky Hope.
> 
> Man I missed working on this story, of all the stories I write this one is honestly one of my favorites. I couldn’t keep away from this story for long, I just have to keep this one going. 
> 
> Without further ado, enjoy.

To the students of Hope's Peak, the part of the day they look forward to the most is lunch. While normally school food isn't the best, that is not the case at Hope's Peak. The food served here is prepared by the Ultimate Chef himself, Teruteru Hanamura. It is because of him that all the students look forward to a delicious lunch whenever it is time to eat.

As per usual, the dining area was full of students either already eating at the tables or in line waiting to get their food. Makoto had already gotten his lunch and was already seated at one of the tables, Leon and Sayaka taking a seat in front of him.

"Man, I can never get enough of Teruteru's food," Leon stated, taking a bite out of his food.

"Leon, please try not to talk with food in your mouth," Sayaka informed in a mildly disgusted tone.

Leon just looked at her before swallowing what was in his mouth, "Sorry about that. But seriously, how can that guy make something that tastes so good?"

"He isn't the Ultimate Chef for nothing," Makoto informed, barely touching his food.

This did not go unnoticed by the other two, now looking over at the luckster in concern. "You feeling alright man?" Leon asked.

"I'm fine it's just," Makoto responded with a sigh, "A lot has been on my mind is all with what's been happening lately."

"You talking about the Mastermind?" Leon inquired, receiving a nod from Makoto in response, "Can't blame you, things have really changed since they showed up."

"I'm worried about what they'll do next," Makoto added on, "Or more specifically, who they'll use next."

"You think they might turn someone else into a Stand user?" Sayaka asked.

"They already did to us, Syo, and Hifumi," Leon answered, "They'll likely do it again. I'm just worried about what Stand they might get. If it's anything like Hifumi's, we're in trouble."

At the mention of Hifumi's Stand, Sayaka shuddered while having her hands on her head, "Don't remind me, I can still feel those cat ears he gave me."

"You're still on about that?" Leon asked, "It's been a whole week how are you not over it yet?"

"You don't understand Leon," she responded, "When my group first started to take off, our manager had us do multiple photo shoots to raise our popularity." She paused as she shuddered more, a grim expression on her face as she continued, "They had us dressed as cat girls for a majority, and it was getting to me. It was cat this, cat that, you have no idea what that does to you."

"Geesh, talk about drama queen," Leon waved off, about to take a bite of his sandwich. However, he didn't get the chance as Sayaka immediately pulled on his goatee towards her.

"Do not test me, Kuwata," she warned, "You cannot even bear to imagine the horrors our group faced. And if you continue on this subject, so help me I will use Siren's Sound to make you go deaf permanently! Do you understand?"

"Y-Yes ma'am," he managed to let out, utterly terrified at the idol.

Makoto just sat there, unsure of how to take what had just occurred as Sayaka let go of Leon. "Anyways… we just have to keep our guard up until we find out who they really are."

"Right, how's your girlfriend making progress on that note?" Leon asked, rubbing his chin from where Sayaka pulled on his beard.

"Kyoko said that she was having some difficulty as the Mastermind hasn't left any hints," Makoto answered, "But she'll get there, I have no doubt about it." Just as he took a bite out of his food, Leon's words finally registered to him and he nearly choked on them.

"G-g-girlfriend! Kyoko isn't my girlfriend," he stuttered, his face a deep red.

"You say that, but the whole class knows how bad you have it for her," Sayaka joined in on Leon's teasing.

"Guys come on, it's not like that," Makoto said, his face only getting redder, "We're just friends that's all."

"So does that mean you wouldn't want her as your girlfriend?" Leon asked with a smirk.

"T-that's not what I meant at all," Makoto corrected, "Any guy would be lucky to date a girl like Kyoko. She's smart, she's amazing, she's pretty, she's…" he was going to continue before seeing that both Leon and Sayaka's grins had grown even more. This led Makoto to a single conclusion that he was dreading, "...she's standing right behind me, isn't she?"

The soft chuckle he heard from behind had confirmed his suspicions as Kyoko took a seat right beside him, "My, how flattering of you Makoto."

"Don't mention it," he responded, looking down at his food while his face could be mistaken for a tomato at how red it was. The other two recipients at the table merely snickered at Makoto's luck acting up again.

"Teasing Makoto aside," Kyoko started, "I overheard your earlier conversation, and am afraid to say that finding any clues about the Mastermind is as difficult as Makoto says."

"So you got nothing on them?" Leon asked.

"Not necessarily," she replied, getting their attention, "Well I know nothing about who they are, I have at least figured that they are at least associated with Hope's Peak. That's the only explanation of how they can use their controllers on students without getting any attention."

"So it could be anyone here, student or faculty," Sayaka said understandingly.

"Indeed, but I am afraid that is all I can gather for now," Kyoko said, "I suggest we end this conversation for now as to limit suspicion in case they may be listening in on us."

The others nodded in agreement and had resumed eating their lunch, unbeknownst to a gazing eye watching them from another table.

\---

With lunch having ended, everyone had made their way back to the classrooms and were waiting for class to begin. Well, almost everyone.

Since the beginning of the day everyone had noticed that there seemed to be a lack of insults from a certain affluent prodigy. That was when they had realized that Byakuya had never showed up for class that day, which was odd. While classes at Hope's Peak were not necessarily mandatory for the main course students, Byakuya has made it a point to always show up, stating that someone of great prowess as him should always attend such courses, mandatory or not. So to see him not be there was of great confusion to everyone.

"Wonder where Byakuya is?" Makoto asked.

"It's not like him to not come to class," Hina added, "You think something came up for him?"

"Who knows, but frankly I don't give a shit," Mondo said bluntly, "It's nice not to hear his snarky voice for once."

"Amen to that dude," Leon agreed, "I wouldn't mind if he stays out longer."

"While I am in agreement that the class's atmosphere is certainly in a better mood without Byakuya's condescending attitude," Kiyotaka stated, "There is, however, one downside to his absence."

"And what's that?" Leon asked.

"Ms. Fukawa's slow deterioration of her mental state without Mr. Togami being present," Hifumi replied, pointing at Toko.

Toko...was not doing well. Her legs were curled up to her chest as she rocked back and forth on her seat. She had a hand up to her mouth, constantly biting her nails and her expression was of pure and utter worry. Toko has been in this state all day, and everyone wisely kept their distance in fear she might burst at any moment.

"Yeah that's… some cause for concern," Sayaka said, nervously eyeing the writer.

"You think she'll be like that all day?" Chihiro asked.

"I'm not sure, but it's beginning to become very worrisome," Sakura stated.

"It's like we're sitting next to a ticking time bomb dudes," Hiro nervously said.

"That… is surprisingly accurate in this situation," Makoto agreed.

"Master...master...master…" Toko constantly muttered, ignoring everyone's comments on her current state of mind.

"Ugh, this is just pathetic. Even for her," Junko said annoyed, "The sooner the rich douchebag comes back the sooner everything goes back to normal."

"You think Byakuya is sick or something?" Hina asked.

"Oh, I can assure you he is not," Celeste answered immediately, getting everyone's attention.

"And how do you know that?" Kyoko asked.

"Because I saw him just the other day perfectly fine," the gambler replied calmly with a small smile on her face. It was at this moment that no one noticed that Toko had gone quiet and was eyeing Celeste. "Yes, I had met him outside his dorm room seeming to be in a hurry. When asked where he was going, he gave quite a hasty response before saying that his time was not meant to be wasted with the likes of me."

"Well, that does sound like him alright," Leon said.

The whole class suddenly froze as an intense feeling of bloodlust seemed to envelop them. The source, a certain writing prodigy. In the blink of an eye, so fast that not even Sakura or Mukuro could see, Toko had appeared right in front of Celeste and was face to face with the gothic lolita.

"_Where did he say he was going?"_ she questioned in a tone that sent shivers down everyone's spine.

Everyone except for Celeste, who did not react even in the slightest at Toko's bloodlust and remained calmly smiling at her, "Oh, and why should I simply give this information without charge."

"Because if you don't, you are going to have an unpleasant private session with a certain murderous fiend," she threatened.

"_Kinky~,_" Junko let out quietly.

"Not now sis," Mukuro whispered.

"Now, now, we do not need to go to such drastic actions," Celeste replied calmly, "I propose a little wager. One game of cards, if you manage to win I will tell you where Byakuya is."

"And if you win?" Toko asked.

"We can discuss the details of that when we get to it," Celeste explained, "So, do we have a deal."

Toko spent the next few seconds glaring at Celeste, trying to figure out what game she was playing before giving her response, "Fine."

"Most excellent," Celeste said as she got up from her chair, "I believe it would be best if we settle this in my dorm room. I hope you do not mind if we skip today's class, Taka."

However, Kiyotaka, along with everyone else in the room, was still frozen from Toko's earlier actions, and could not respond at all. Instead, Celeste simply smiled as she exited the classroom, Toko following her. Everyone still remained silent and unmoving, before Mondo broke the silence.

"Could someone care to explain what the hell just happened?!" he exclaimed.

"I… am honestly as lost as you are bro," Taka replied.

"As if she wasn't bad enough, now we have more of a reason to be afraid of Toko," Hiro worryingly said.

"I mean, I knew she was obsessed with Byakuya, but this was on a whole different level then we've seen before," Sayaka trembled.

"Let us just be glad that she isn't Syo right now," Kyoko added, "I imagine it would just be much worse if she was out."

"Don't even want to imagine how Syo would be taking this," Leon added nervously, "Feel like she would go straight for Makoto's ahoge before venting out on the rest of us."

"Why?" Makoto asked in confusion.

"You may have not noticed it, but there are times where Syo's constantly eyeing the protrusion of hair on your head in curiosity," Sakura responded.

"Yeah dude, Syo has been wanting to nip that ahoge of yours for a while now," Hiro added.

"You should probably keep it down in case she pops up again," Sayaka suggested.

"I have tried, it's no use. No amount of hair gel can tame this thing," Makoto sighed, "Moving away from that, did Celeste seem kind of off to you guys?"

"What do you mean?" Chihiro inquired.

"She just seemed different, I don't know," he clarified, "It's probably nothing really." He then felt a sporadic twitching on his head and when he tried to feel what it was, all Makoto felt was his own hair, "Hey guys, do I have something on my head?"

Instead of receiving an answer, however, all Makoto got in response was everyone just staring at him in awe and confusion, which bewildered him, "Guys, what's wrong?"

"Dude, can you not feel what's happening with your hair?" Leon asked.

"I mean, I can feel something twitching, but why's it got you guys spooked?" Makoto asked.

"Because it's...well… just see for yourself," Sayaka responded. She reached into her pocket and took out a small mirror, giving it over to Makoto.

Makoto gazed at the mirror to see what everyone was talking about, and finally realized why they were confused. His ahoge was sporadically twitching on its own, moving left and right and spinning all around. Makoto's eyes widened at the sight of his seemingly sentient strand of hair, "Well… that's new."

"Don't just react so calmly to that!" a majority of the class exclaimed.

"Why is it doing that?" Kyoko inquired, unable to look away from the twitching protrusion of hair.

"I have no clue whatsoever," Makoto answered.

No one else had anything to say, as the oddity of Makoto's sentient ahoge had practically taken out any words they had before.

\---

The next day rolled around uneventfully as Class 78 was already preparing for class to begin. Everyone had essentially moved on from the insanity of the previous day, and now they were just hoping for a slightly less insane day today.

Celeste was the last one who walked inside, as once again Byakuya was nowhere to be seen. However, this time Toko also did not show up today, which got a bad feeling from Makoto.

"Hey Celeste," he called out, getting her attention, "What happened with you and Toko yesterday?"

"Ah yes, shortly after we exited class we retreated to my dorm for our wager," she explained, "However, as to be expected she was unable to win. Toko was practically devastated at this and not learning of her precious Byakuya. I suspect she is still sulking in her dorm room."

"That's a bit harsh don't you think?" Hina asked, "You couldn't just tell her?"

"She agreed to the rules of the bet and lost," Celeste responded, "I am simply upholding those rules by withholding this information. Although honestly, it is her fault for challenging someone of my prowess."

"Bit of an ego there goth girl," Mondo stated.

"It is only the truth, no?" Celeste answered, "As the Ultimate Gambler, it should've been obvious that she stood no chance."

"You know, just because you're the Ultimate Gambler, that doesn't make you unbeatable," Leon stated, getting her attention.

"Oh, is that so?"

"Definitely, in fact," Leon started with a confident smirk, "Why don't we have a little game right now so I can show you?"

Celeste laughed at Leon's challenge, "I'm afraid I have better things than to deal with you and your foolishness."

"You sure you aren't just scared that you might lose, Taeko?"

Everyone was wide eyed as they stared at Leon like he was insane, seeing as how he essentially just set off a bomb. It's no secret to everyone that Celeste despises being called by her real name, so much that calling her that was essentially suicide. So hearing Leon poking the proverbial bear by doing so already got them worried at how she would take it.

And at first she just sat calmly like she didn't hear him at all. But then she turned to face him and while she still had a calm expression, the twitching of her eye gave away the intense anger that Celeste was currently holding in.

"Very well, if you are willing to go that far then," Celeste started, taking out a deck of playing cards, "I will gladly accept your challenge." She moved her seat to sit across from Leon and practically slammed the deck onto the desk.

"Hold on a minute, cease this at once!" Taka exclaimed as Celeste began shuffling the deck, "Must I remind you that it is strictly prohibited to gamble during school hours."

"I apologize Taka, but I cannot let this go by," she replied, finishing shuffling, "I must teach this imbecile a lesson for provoking a higher power."

"But this is-" Taka was interrupted when Mondo put a hand on his shoulder.

"Just drop it bro, it's not gonna get through her," he admitted.

Taka sighed in defeat knowing that Mondo was right. Celeste had finished and started dealing out the cards to her and Leon, who just had a confident smirk on his face.

"What do you think Leon hopes to accomplish with this stunt of his?" Kyoko asked Makoto.

"I'm really not sure," Makoto said honestly, watching the game, "You think he has a chance?"

"More than you think," Sayaka answered. When they looked at her for clarification she resumed speaking, "Last night Leon asked me to come over to his room saying he wanted to face Celeste and wanted to try something. We played about ten games of poker… and he won every single one."

"Seriously?" Makoto inquired in shock.

Kyoko put a hand on her chin as she thought about what Sayaka said, "It could be possible that he was cheating at the time. I don't see how he was able to win all of those games at once."

"That's what I thought so too," Sayaka said, "But honestly, could you think of any other way to beat Celeste in her own game?" Neither Makoto or Kyoko could give an answer as they figured Sayaka was right.

Leon was just about to pick up his cards that Celeste dealt out before looking at her own cards that were still face down. He smirked, "_Sorry Celeste, but this is where you lose."_ Underneath the desk, Perfect Game was summoned as Leon put a hand under the table and flicked his thumb, causing the Stand to quietly play its guitar.

"_Thanks to Perfect Game this game is mine,"_ Leon thought as the small bit of air that he flicked steered towards Celeste's cards, "_Just by flicking a small amount of air, I can steer it right towards your cards to lift them up."_ The air landed in front of the cards and caused them up a small bit that wasn't noticed by Celeste.

"_They may not lift high enough, but one thing about being the Ultimate Baseball Player is that I'm able to keep my eye on the ball at all times no matter how fast or far it is, so seeing through that small window is easy for me, but is still enough that you won't notice." _Her hand consisted of two pairs, and they just landed flat on the table just as Celeste picked them up.

Leon looked down at his hand as he flicked another ball of air. Perfect Game controlled it once more and steered it towards the top of the deck, allowing Leon to see what it was once they were lifted up. His smirk grew as he put two cards facedown.

"Feeling confident are we?" Celeste asked.

"What can I say, feeling good about this one," Leon answered.

"Well let's see if you can hold onto that confidence," she replied as she put down a card from her hand, "Makoto, would you mind being the one to deal us our cards please."

"Uh… sure," he said unsure, walking over to them. He did what he was told and dealt out one card to Celeste and two to Leon. As he did, he felt his hair twitching again and could already feel the stares from everyone, "Leon, is my ahoge twitching again?"

"Yep," Leon answered.

"When did this start happening?" Celeste asked curiously.

"Yesterday when you and Toko left," Makoto answered.

Contempt with that answer, Celeste's focus went back to Leon. "I'll give you one last chance to save yourself from embarrassment Leon," she warned, "You can fold now and end this."

"Thanks for the warning," Leon thanked, "But that won't be necessary."

"Very well, do not say I gave you a chance. You may show off your hand first."

Leon only smirked in response as he laid his cards down for her to see. His hand consisted of five cards which were all suits of diamond. This actually caused Celeste to raise her brow in surprise, "A Flush, very impressive."

"You're damn right it is," he cheered boldly, "Think you can beat that?"

"Think? No I do not think I can," she responded. Her eyes seemed to give some kind of glint that sent shivers down Leon and Makoto's spine when they saw it, "I know that I can." She laid down her cards on the table which got a gasp out from Leon, "Full House."

However the gasp was not on Celeste's hand beating him, it was because of a certain card she held. Her hand consisted of three aces and two jacks, but the card which represented the Jack of Spades was what caught their attention. Instead of the normal Jack, the card had Toko in place of the Jack.

"W-what the hell?"

"It appears you have lost Leon," Celeste said, "Now to pay your debt."

"Debt? What debt, we didn't bet anything," Leon inquired.

Celeste laughed softly at his response, "That is where you are mistaken. The moment you challenged me, you already made your bet."

Celeste was then surrounded by a glowing aura as a Stand suddenly materialized right beside her. The Stand stood about six feet tall and was extremely pale in color with sunken red eyes. It wore a luxurious black tuxedo over a white dress shirt along with a black bowtie, black pants and black dress shoes. The most noticeable feature of it was the red A on its forehead. It stood silently behind Celeste with one arm across its chest, giving off the stance of a fancy butler beside his mistress.

Leon and Makoto were in shock at the realization of Celeste having a Stand, along with Kyoko, Sayaka and Hifumi who were watching the game from afar. The Stand looked down at Leon before raising an arm towards him. Before Leon could use his Stand to retaliate, he froze as he felt something within him moving out.

"Leon, what's wrong?" Makoto asked in concern.

"Yo the hell's up with him?" Mondo asked confused, "He looks like he saw a ghost."

Leon stood frozen for a bit longer before his body lurched and a ghostly projection of him exited his body, which was now limp. The Stand grabbed ghost Leon by the throat before spinning him fast enough to become a blur. As he continued to spin, the Stand brought its arms above and below the spinning ghost before bringing them together and seemingly flattening ghost Leon. It brought its hand towards Celeste and opened them, now holding a single playing card, a Jack of Diamonds, with Leon taking the place of the jack on the card.

"Leon? Leon are you ok?" Taka asked in concern, shaking Leon's now limp body.

"Oh dear, it appears he went unconscious," Celeste said with a hand hiding her smile, "I suppose the realization of his loss was too much for him. Especially as he hyped his win up so much."

"That's a thing that can happen?" Hina asked curiously.

"I have seen it happen to numerous opponents who have challenged me," Celeste responded, "Perhaps you should take him to the nurse's office."

"I agree," Taka confirmed, "Bro could you lend your assistance please?"

"Yeah, yeah no problem," Mondo responded, picking up Leon and throwing him over his shoulder. He and Taka exited the class with Leon in tow, leaving the rest of the class to resume what they were doing earlier.

However, for the Stand users still in the class they were still in shock from what they had just witnessed. The sight of what they assume was Leon's soul getting forcibly taken and turned into a card was haunting. Celeste's calm demeanor didn't help either as she eyed Makoko with her usual smirk.

"If you wish to learn more about what had transpired, come to my dorm after class," Celeste suggested as she turned away and returned to her seat, "Hifumi, more tea please."

"Y-Yes Ms. Ludenberg!" Hifumi hurriedly replied as he rushed out of the classroom.

Makoto was taken out of his stunned silence when Sayaka grabbed him and dragged him over to her and Kyoko. "What just happened?!" Sayaka questioned nervously.

"I'm not sure," Kyoko answered, "But it looks like Celeste is another Stand user we have to deal with."

"Yeah, and her Stand isn't one to be trifled with either," Makoto said, "It isn't like normal Stands either. It seemed automatic, activating only when Leon lost."

"What should we do?" Sayaka inquired.

"There's not much we can do unless we learn more about what her Stand is capable of," Makoto answered.

"Then we have no choice but to meet with her like she asked us to do," Kyoko added in realization.

"Seems like it," Makoto agreed, "We better be careful, this won't be like the other Stands we dealt with."

Sayaka and Kyoko nodded in agreement before all three turned towards Celeste. She met their gaze with a small smirk as she sipped more tea.

\---

The time had eventually come and Makoto, Sayaka, and Kyoko were already outside of Celeste's dorms. The whole day had been long and gruelling as it was leading up to this moment, and right now neither of them are sure what to expect.

"You guys ready?" Makoto asked the two, receiving nods in response. He knocked on the door and they waited in agony before it opened, Hifumi standing in the doorway.

"Hifumi, you're already here?" Sayaka inquired.

"Ms. Ludenberg had already brought me before you three came here," he explained, "She's inside awaiting your arrival."

"Best not to keep her waiting," Kyoko suggested, everyone nodding in agreement. With that, they all entered the dorm room, seeing Celeste sitting behind a small table. On the table sat a deck of playing cards and an extravagant looking tea set.

"Welcome, do make yourselves comfortable," Celeste offered, taking a sip of tea from one of the cups.

"We aren't here to play tea party with you Celeste," Kyoko informed, "Tell us what we want to know."

"My, my, ever quick to the gun I see," Celeste replied in her usual calm demeanor, "Very well, I suppose there is no need to delay this."

"As I am sure you have no doubt realized, I too am a Stand user who has been set the task of dealing with all of you." As she started explaining Celestia's Stand manifested beside her, getting the three in a defensive state, "This is my Stand, On the Dime, whose abilities you have already witnessed earlier with Leon."

"What exactly did you do to him?" Makoto asked, already holding Lucky Number in case she decided to attack.

"Nothing that he was not asking for," she explained as On the Dime vanished, "On the Dime allows me to reap the souls of anyone who opposes me to a game of cards the moment they lose." She picked up the deck of cards and pulled out two from it, revealing to be the cards of Leon and Toko, "Those souls are then turned into cards for my convenience, a rather fine collection if I do say so myself."

"Did you just call us here to brag about your Stand?" Sayaka asked annoyedly.

"Oh nothing of the sort, I simply wished to explain what you will be getting into before my proposal," Celestia explained, setting the two cards back into the deck as she started shuffling it, "If you wish to free them, then you must simply defeat me in my own game. If I were to lose, then all the souls that I have trapped shall be free."

"That hardly seems fair considering you are the Ultimate Gambler," Kyoko noted with a small glare.

"Perhaps, but such is life," Celeste replied, "In this world, survival depends on how much you can adapt. Whether or not their souls rescued depends on your ability to adapt against my talent. Are you up to such a drastic task?"

At first, nobody said anything in response to her question. It seemed almost impossible to even think of beating Celestia Ludenberg at her own game. But then, Makoto spoke first, "If it's the only way to save Leon and Toko, then I'll take that chance."

Everyone was taken aback from his response before Kyoko spoke, a small smile on her face, "Should've expected that kind of response from you. Naturally I'll be taking that chance as well."

"Me too," Sayaka said determinedly, "If it's to save our friends I'll gladly do it."

"What about you Hifumi?" Makoto asked, noticing the writer has been quiet for a while.

"Well, about that," he started before Celeste spoke for him.

"He won't be aiding you I'm afraid," she said coldly, making Hifumi flinch at her tone, "He is too much of a coward to fight against his mistress. I would've taken care of him sooner, but I need someone to serve my tea."

Hifumi couldn't help but feel defeated at Celeste's harsh tone. She finished shuffling the deck and put down on the desk, "Now then, who will be the first to go against me?"

"I will," Sayaka immediately walked forward, catching everyone by surprise.

"Sayaka, are you sure?" Makoto asked worriedly.

"I am," the idol said, already taking her seat in front of Celeste, "I'll be the one to save them."

"Confident are we?" Celeste smiled.

"You may be the Ultimate Gambler Celeste, but even for you it's impossible to win so many games in a row," Sayaka replied boldly.

"Let us test that statement of yours shall we. Hifumi, if you would," Celeste requested, motioning towards the deck.

Hifumi only nodded as he walked over and started dealing five cards to each of them. Sayaka and Celeste picked up their respective hands and immediately Celeste put down one card. Sayaka looked at her hand in intense thought, trying to figure out what to do with it while Makoto and Kyoko watched.

"You think she can do this?" Makoto asked Kyoko.

"I honestly cannot say for sure," she replied, "Celeste is confident in her skills. The fact that she's been so calm this entire time adds on that she's not worried."

Makoto nodded as he also noticed how calm Celeste had been, which concerned him greatly. If she wasn't concerned even in the slightest, then she was planning something. Whatever it was they weren't sure, meaning they would have to be extra careful.

Sayaka continued looking at her hand before finally making a move, taking out three cards and putting them down. Hifumi didn't have to be told what to do as he dealt the next set of cards to them both. Sayaka looked at her hand and for a brief moment, there was a gleam in her eyes, like her hand was what she needed.

"You ready?" Celeste asked.

Sayaka nodded as the both of them put down both of their hands on the table for everyone to see. In Celeste's hand, she had no matching cards but instead had five cards that were marked 2 through 6 in sequential order, representing a Straight. Sayaka, however, only had three matching 6's and an Ace and 5.

"A Three of a Kind, not bad, however I still win this one," Celestia smiled.

Sayaka looked down at her hand in shock. But along with that, Makoto noticed that there was a hint of confusion on her face as well. "But how, I could've sworn there were four of them," she whispered in shock.

"Sayaka? What are you saying?" Makoto asked.

Before she could respond, On the Dime appeared before them, an arm reaching towards Sayaka. She looked in fear as she quickly stood up and summoned Siren's Sound. She was about to let out a loud screech before she froze and her body lurched forward. Her soul was forced out of her body, now completely motionless and fell back before Makoto caught it, and was taken by the throat by On the Dime.

"Let this be a lesson to not underestimate my skill," Celeste informed, taking a drink of her tea as she watched the spectacle before her. Everyone else in the room could only watch in horror as the Stand spun Sayaka's soul in place before flattening her between its hands. It bowed down to Celeste and proceeded to give her the card in its hand, a Queen of Clubs with Sayaka as the queen.

Makoto set Sayaka's body against the wall as Celeste assembled all the cards and started shuffling the deck again. Kyoko glared strongly at the gambler, "How do we know you aren't cheating?"

"My dear Kyoko, I can assure you that I am playing this game fair and square," Celestia replied, "I simply have both experience and my own form of luck whenever I play. Only one man has ever come close to beating me in all my years as a gambler."

"Only one person?" Hifumi inquired nervously.

"Yes, Daniel J. D'Arby," she explained, "No one else had ever pushed me into a corner until he came along. He was known as the King of Lies in the gambler community, until I took that title from him in one of my most challenging matches. He was a valiant player, a shame about what happened to him."

"What happened?" Makoto asked curiously.

"Apparently he had gone mad last year and is now in a mental asylum. Witnesses said he was in a game against some delinquent when it had happened," she explained as she put down the deck, "But we are getting off topic, who'll be next?"

Makoto stayed silent as he wasn't sure what to say before Kyoko spoke up, "I'll go next."

"Kyoko what are you doing?" he asked.

"She's hiding something," Kyoko whispered back, "When she lost, Sayaka seemed confused. There was something about her hand that was different. There might be more to Celeste's Stand then she's letting on."

"If that's true then shouldn't you go last?" Makoto inquired, "Now that we know there's a trick, I should be the one who challenges her and you watch closely."

"I don't think so, I believe the only way to notice it is to face her directly," Kyoko informed.

"But if you lose you'll end up like the others," he reminded, "What good is finding it out if it'll be too late?"

"Because Makoto," she faced him, her expression being one of someone who was dead serious in their decision, "We can't afford to risk losing you so soon, not while we still don't know much yet." She didn't give him a chance to respond as she immediately took her seat across from the gambler.

"Eager to your defeat are we?" Celeste asked, her usual smirk decorating her face.

"Don't be so sure, Celeste," Kyoko responded, "You're going to lose here."

"Don't get so cocky, detective."

One motion from Celeste and Hifumi started dealing the cards out to the two of them. As they picked up their hands, Makoto made sure to watch closely for any sign of what Celeste is doing. He was able to see two of the cards in Kyoko's hand, a Five of Spades and a King of Diamonds.

Both her and Celeste put down two cards each, and Hifumi dealt them their two cards. Celeste smiled when looking at her hand, while Kyoko kept her neutral expression.

"Now then, shall we?" Celeste inquired.

"If we must," Kyoko responded.

At those words both participants laid their hands on the table for everyone to see. Celeste's hand held two pairs, a pair of 7's and a pair of 10's, with a lone Two of Diamonds. Kyoko's hand had two pairs as well, a pair of 2's and a pair of 4's with a Jack of Spades on its own.

"Hmm, it seems we both got Two Pairs," Celeste noted, "But I'm afraid my cards have a higher ranking than yours, meaning you have lost."

Makoto was completely and utterly shocked. Not only at the sight of Kyoko losing, meaning her soul would be taken as the others, but also because of her hand. The Five of Spades and King of Diamonds were nowhere in her hand, and he saw that she didn't exchange them when folding ehr cards. So what happened to them?

As On the Dime appeared in front of the detective, she just sat there with silence before she spoke, "So that's your secret."

"Hmm?" Celeste hummed curiously.

"That's the true purpose of your Stand," Kyoko said, "That's why you've been so calm. It's nearly impossible for you to lose with a Stand like that."

"I see you have discovered On the Dime's other ability," Celeste said amusingly, "However it does not matter. It is not nearly impossible for me to lose." As she faced the detective, her expression was dramatically different than the calm demeanor from before. This expression was cold, so cold that its glare could freeze someone solid.

"_It is impossible."_

Her voice dripped with utter terror that sent chills through Makoto and Hifumi's spines. Even Kyoko was off-put by the gambler's voice, but didn't let that deter her from what she knew she had to do.

"Makoto," she spoke, getting Makoto's attention, "You understand it as well don't you, what her Stand is capable of."

At first Makoto wasn't sure what Kyoko meant, but then he realized it. The cards he had seen in Kyoko's hand earlier had somehow disappeared, replaced with other cards. There was only one explanation that he could think of for that, nodding in response to Kyoko's question.

"Then I suppose I leave the rest of this to you," she said as On the Dime raised its arm, "I know you can handle this." Before she could continue, Kyoko's soul was forced out of her now limp body, which Makoto managed to catch before it fell out of the chair.

He didn't dare look away as the Stand started spinning the soul in place, knowing what was about to come. The Stand brought its hand together, completely flattening the soul, and as before lifted it to Celeste, showing a Queen of Hearts with Kyoko as the queen.

"Even the Ultimate Detective stood little chance against me," Celeste remarked, "And then there was one."

Makoto didn't say anything in response as he sat Kyoko's limp body alongside Sayaka's. He then faced Celeste, who continued to smirk smugly, "Normally I offer you a chance to consent, but I'm afraid that is not an option here."

Makoto stood there in silence, trying to think of an idea on what to do next. Knowing Celeste's Stand is one thing, but thinking of what to do after that was something else. He needed time to think of a plan, one that would be able to work around On the Dime. Unfortunately, Celestia would not be giving him that chance.

"I would prefer if we do not delay our game any longer, Makoto," Celeste said, hurrying him.

"One question Celeste," Makoto started, "What's stopping me from just not playing at all?"

In response, Celeste let out a small chuckle which did not put Makoto at ease. She held out the card with Kyoko on it, "As you know the souls of those I have bested are trapped within these cards. So long as they are left alone, nothing else could happen to them. But say if I were to rip it apart, who knows what may happen to the one within said card."

He grimaced, Celeste trapped him in a corner that he can't escape from, forcing him to play her game whenever she calls for it. "Now if you are done asking questions, let us begin," she said, lifting her cup to drink some tea.

However, it came to an abrupt stop at the sight of something on the cup. A large cockroach was on the teacup, and as Celeste lifted it the cockroach moved onto her hand. At the sight of the insect crawling onto her, Celeste screeched and threw it off her hand, inadvertently spilling all the tea as well.

The cockroach recovered and began crawling towards Celeste, who instinctively grabbed the closest thing to her, which happened to be Hifumi. With surprising strength, she lifted him up and tossed him right on top of the insect. He groaned in pain as Celeste spoke to him, "Don't just lay there you pig bellied loser! Is it dead or not?!"

Hifumi got up and looked at where he was tossed for any sign of the insect, "It appears, it is gone Ms. Ludenberg."

At that, Celeste calmed down and returned to her calm posture, "Very good, now make yourself useful and make some more tea. I seem to have spilled it during the commotion." He simply nodded and exited the room as she turned towards Makoto, "Well, I believe I shall go powder my nose. We can begin when Hifumi returns."

As she got up to enter the bathroom, Makoto was left alone pondering what exactly had just occurred. He wasn't entirely sure how to describe what had transpired in the dormitory, leaving Makoto with an aghast expression. Still thought, he wasn't going to waste the opportunity that had just presented to itself to him. He now had some time to think of what to do counter On the Dime.

Celeste kept one thing secret about On the Dime, an additional power it has alongside its soul stealing ability. However, there was one thing Makoto noticed about the Stand. While its ability to steal souls seemed to be an automatic power, the same can't be said about the Stand's other ability. No, Celeste had to manually use On the Dime's power in order for it to work, which meant if she didn't think about doing it, it wouldn't work.

An idea formed in his mind, one that could turn the game around for him. It all relied on what he would roll next with Lucky Number. He took out his Stand and spoke his command before rolling the Stand on the desk.

\---

Celeste had exited the bathroom just as Hifumi returned with a fresh batch of tea and gladly took a sip of it as she returned to her seat, "Now then, are you ready Makoto?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," he replied with a serious expression.

Before even being asked to, Hifumi already started dealing the cards to the two and when Makoto grabbed his cards, he saw that one of them was the Queen of Hearts card that Kyoko's soul was turned into.

"_I promise I'll get you out of this Kyoko,"_ he thought to himself as he looked down at the card.

Celeste put down one card from her hand, "Better enjoy your last moments, Makoto."

Makoto responded by putting down two of his own cards and looking Celeste dead in the eye, "We'll see about that, Taeko."

Hifumi stiffened at Makoto's choice of words, and was horrified at how Celeste was taking it. Unlike with Leon, where she kept her composure, she completely snapped when Makoto spoke her name and slammed her hands on the table, pure anger all over her face.

"MY NAME IS CELESTIA LUDENBERG YOU DESPICABLE PIECE OF SHIT! I'D HAVE THOUGHT YOU OF ALL PEOPLE WOULD HAVE SOME DIGNITY LEFT IN YOU! I SWEAR ONCE I TAKE YOUR SOUL I WILL RIP YOUR CARD INTO SHREDS!"

Needless to say, Celeste's anger caught both Makoto and Hifumi off guard as they were not expecting her to get this mad. However, Makoto couldn't help but smirk inwardly as this was what he was hoping for.

Not wanting to anger her any more than she already is, Hifumi hurriedly dealt the cards. Celeste took hers and immediately slammed them on the table, "Full House! Good luck beating that, your soul is mine!"

Makoto stayed silent after she had revealed her hand. Celeste thought he was comprehending his loss and his failure to save those she had already trapped. But then he spoke up, "You were pretty confident Celeste, boasting your victory before the game ended." She was going to reply, but Makoto stopped her as he continued speaking, "But someone taught me a very important lesson."

"And what might that be?" Celeste inquired.

"Once an opponent starts boasting their victory," he answered before revealing his cards, "They've already lost."

Celeste was astonished at Makoto's hand, even Hifumi was aghast by the luckster's hand. The hand consisted of a Ten, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace, all of them being hearts. Makoto had been able to draw the ultimate hand in Poker, much to the gambler's shock.

"Royal!" Celeste exclaimed.

"Flush!" Hifumi finished.

Neither of them could comprehend the sheer victory that Makoto had just gained. What made it worse for Celeste, however, was that the Queen of Hearts, which was Kyoko, seemed to be smirking. It was as if the detective was mocking her even within her paper prison.

"H-H-How, how is this possible," Celeste stuttered, still in shock at her loss.

"It started when I figured out what your Stand does," Makoto explained boldly, "While your Stand does have the ability of soul stealing, there was one other ability you kept secret from us., one that ensured your victory. On the Dime can change the cards in our hands, giving you complete control of the game."

"How did you find out?" Celeste exclaimed, in shock that the luckster was able to unveil her secret.

"It all started when Sayaka looked confused after her game, she wasn't concerned about her defeat more so than the sudden change in her cards." Makoto stood up from his seat, completely towering over the gothic gambler, "I was completely sure however when Kyoko lost. I saw her cards at the start of the game and they were not the same when she showed them. Even she was able to figure it out, and she entrusted it to me to finish this game."

"But Mr. Naegi," Hifumi started, "If Ms. Ludenberg was able to control the cards, how were you able to win?"

"On the Dime's two abilities were different in terms of both what they do and how they're used," as Makoto continued speaking, he never once took his eyes off Celeste, who seemed to be trembling under his gaze. "The soul stealing was automatic, kicking in as soon as someone lost a game of Poker. However its other ability is manual, meaning Celeste has to think about it in order for it to work. And that was how I won."

Makoto held out his hand, holding Lucky Number between his fingers, "My Stand allows me to perform any command I say so long as I roll a high enough number, but it can also affect others so long as they are unaware of it. That was the tricky part, I couldn't possibly use my Stand so long as you were aware, but luckily there was that distraction with the cockroach."

"Don't tell me you planned that!" Celeste exclaimed, refusing to believe even that was part of Makoto's plan.

"No, that was honestly just luck, if it wasn't for that cockroach distracting you and leaving me alone, I would have never been able to beat you," Makoto answered honestly.

Suddenly, much to the confusion of both Makoto and Celeste, Hifumi chuckled confidently as his glasses gleamed, "That was no luck Mr. Naegi, that was all because of me."

"You?" Makoto questioned.

"While Ms. Ludenberg was right earlier about me being unable to face her, that doesn't mean I would play spectator the whole time," he answered boldly, "While I wasn't sure how I could help, I had to do something. And so I called forth the abilities of my Stand, Fine Art!"

The artbook materialized in his hands and automatically opened to a page with a drawing of a cockroach, "I happen to know that Ms. Ludenberg is afraid of cockroaches, and as such drew one within my Stand and summoned it. However, it was on standby for a majority of the time cause I was unsure when to bring it out, but after Ms. Kirigiri's loss you looked as if you were struggling and decided now was the time to call upon my little friend."

"Well good thing you did Hifumi, cause that was exactly what I needed," Makoto continued, "While I was left alone, all that I needed to do was use my Stand. It was a gamble on hoping for a good roll, but the roll was high enough for my command to take place."

"'I'll win the game of Poker because Celeste got over confident,' that was my command," Makoto explained, recalling when he rolled Lucky Number earlier and it had landed on 15. "It wasn't just your Stand you used, you also depended on your own talent as well, which made you confident. And just for good measure I did the one thing that angered you the most."

Her eyes widened when she remembered when Makoto called her by her real name, "So when you called me Taeko."

"It was to anger you, and blind you in your own hubris so that you chose not to use your Stand," Makoto finished, "In the end, you only have yourself to blame for this loss. Now, next you'll say, 'This is impossible, I lost.'"

"How, how did I lose?" Celeste inquired in shock.

"... One of these days I'm going to get it right."

Just then Kyoko's card, along with the other soul cards within the deck of playing cards, started to glow. They then floated into the air before flying away at tremendous speed, two of them entering both Kyoko and Sayaka, one soaring out of the room, and the last one through Celeste's closet. Both Kyoko and Sayaka began to stir awake before opening their eyes and fully woke up.

"We're back," Sayaka said, looking down at her hands.

"It appears so," Kyoko added.

\---

In the nurse's office of Hope's Peak, Leon's body laid motionless on a bed as a timid girl with bandages wrapped around one of her arms and legs checked on him.

"H-He's been like this for over an hour now," the girl said nervously, "He sh-should've been up by now, I don't know what's wrong. E-Everyone is gonna hate me, I can't do anything right."

As the girl was on the verge of tears, she was unaware as Leon's card soared into the room and into Leon. The baseball player suddenly jolted awake and sat up, "Whoa boy, that was something!"

"AHH!" the girl screeched as she fell back, caught off guard by Leon waking up, "Y-Y-Your awake?"

"Mikan? Wait how'd I end up here?" Leon questioned as he looked around the nurse's room.

"Y-You went unconscious and your classmates brought you here," Mikan explained as she got up, before suddenly bowing repeatedly, "I-I'm sorry for not being able to help you sooner, p-please don't hate me!"

"Whoa, Mikan, relax it's all good," Leon assured the frightened nurse, "But man, talk about an out of body experience."

\---

"You two ok?" Makoto asked as the girls got up.

"Aside from still feeling our literal soul get pulled out, just fine," Sayaka replied.

"Same for me as well," Kyoko added.

"So, does this mean it's over?" Hifumi asked.

They all looked over at Celeste, who hasn't moved since Makoto finished speaking. She was seen shaking in place, her hair blocking her eyes.

"It probably is, just got to remove the controller off of her," Makoto said as he was about to walk over to do so. However, he stopped as he once again felt the spike on his hair start twitching and spinning again. This time it felt more urgent than all the other times it moved.

"And his ahoge is moving on its own again," Sayaka noticed, "Does that thing have a mind of its own?"

"I am still curious on why it does that," Kyoko admitted, unable to take her eyes off the protrusion of hair.

"It is certainly a mystery," Hifumi added.

Even Makoto was curious on why his hair started acting all on its own. He thought about how it all started yesterday, when Celeste took Toko to her dorm. Then once again earlier today during Leon's game. That was when Makoto noticed a pattern in both occurrences, they were leading to something bad.

Makoto looked over at Celeste and while she was still shaking, he noticed a few things he hadn't before. Her fists were tightly clamped, turning red and how hard she had them closed. Her teeth looked like they were being grinded, as if in anger. And when Makoto finally got a look at her face, he didn't see one of defeat like he was expecting. What he saw was a face of pure rage.

Makoto figured out what was about to happen and reacted quickly, "Guys get back!"

No sooner then he shouted out his warning, Celeste stood up as On the Dime appeared beside her. The leftover playing cards started shaking before a few of them shot towards everyone as fast as a bullet. They all managed to get out of the way and the cards got stuck on the door, although one of them managed to graze Makoto's cheek. He slightly winced at the cut before looking back at Celeste.

"We underestimated her control of the cards," he said as the cards started to come together.

"You mean she doesn't just change what the card is?" Hifumi asked.

"No," Kyoko explained, "Her Stand is able to freely control them at her will."

On the Dime was not holding a whip of playing cards it had constructed out of them, and Celeste glared at all four of them, "I tried to get rid of you annoying pests my way, but it seems I have to resort to more savage means!"

Celeste's Stand used its whip so fast that there was barely time to react. The whip was used on the desk and was able to cut it completely in half, much to the shock of everyone. As they were still gawking at just how badly that whip can hurt them, On the Dime used that distraction and used its whip on Kyoko. Makoto quickly warned her before shoving her out of the way of the whip.

However, he was not fast enough for himself and the whip came down on his arm, completely cutting the limb off his body.

Everyone but Celeste watched in horror as Makoto screamed in pain, holding what was left of his still attached arm. Nobody could bother to speak a word, except for one person.

"This is what you get for making a fool out of me," Celeste seethed, "I will make all of you suffer, if it's the last thing I-" Her dialogue was interrupted as Sayaka summoned Siren's Sound to knock her back to the wall with a loud, concentrated screech.

The impact was enough to make Celeste go unconscious, and Kyoko quickly responded by having Mystery Girl appear and grab the controller on the goth's forehead, holding it as the explosion went off harmlessly. With that out of the way, Kyoko's focus immediately went towards Makoto, who was still gripping his arm but managed to calm down from the screaming. He was still in a lot of pain, however.

"Urgh oh god, this hurts so much!" he exclaimed.

"Just hang on Makoto," Kyoko assured, taking Makoto's shoulder, "We'll get you to Mikan's as soon as we can to take care of the bleeding before getting you to a hospital."

"No, we can't!" Makoto let out through clamped teeth, "She'll ask questions, how are we supposed to explain this?"

"Well what else are we supposed to do?!" Sayaka exclaimed in worry.

Just then a sneeze could be heard from within Celeste's closet before it was thrown open and Toko came out. However instead of Toko, Syo was the one in control right now, and she looked pissed. "Where is that gothic bitch?! I am going to cut her to ribbons for what she did!" she exclaimed angrily, already having her scissors out.

"I-I'm afraid we have dealt with Ms. Ludenberg already, Ms. Syo," Hifumi informed nervously, pointing over at the unconscious body in the room.

"Oh, well doesn't matter, still gonna-whoa what the hell happened here?!" Syo started before noticing Makoto and his lack of an arm.

"Celeste got the jump on us," Makoto answered in pain.

"No kidding, she really de_arm_ed you good Macky," Syo cackled.

"Now is not the time for your usual attitude Syo," Kyoko replied in disgust, "If you're just gonna be a nuisance then leave right now." Even through the pain, Makoto noticed that Kyoko seemed more aggressive towards Syo than usual, who just laughed it off.

"Alright fine, I was gonna offer and help but if you rather I leave," she said, getting everyone's attention.

"What do you mean help?" Kyoko inquired.

"Alright fine I'll do it, stop badgering me!" Syo exclaimed in exaggeration. She spun one of her scissors before stabbing it into her arm and cutting it across, leaving a long gash of blood on her arm. Immediately the blood came to life and Bad Blood formed into a tendril that picked up Makoto's arm. "You'll feel a little sting, but shouldn't be as bad as getting your whole arm ripped off," Syo warned as her Stand brought the arm over to Makoto.

When it got close enough, some of Bad Blood attached itself to both the severed arm and the cutoff part of Makoto's body. He winced in pain as they came together, feeling the veins and arteries in his arm reattaching to his body. When it was all finished, Bad Blood retreated and the only sign of Makoto's arm being cut off was a line of stitched, scabbed up blood where it was severed. He looked down at his arm and moved it around, opening and closing his fist with no problems at all, "You did it, it feels perfectly fine."

"Yep, good as new aside from the scar line there," Syo replied proudly, "And also possibly AIDS."

"Wait what?!" Sayaka exclaimed as everyone looked horrified.

"_Gyahahaha! _Ah just messing with you all!" Syo laughed, "He's fine, Bad Blood was able to repair all the stuff inside his arm and treat it like nothing happened."

"But what about blood type, wouldn't that cause possible issues?" Hifumi asked.

"Nope, Ms. Morose and I are O negative, got the Red Cross searching for us and everything!" Syo replied, "And best part, Bad Blood here makes it so I never run out, so I can give as much as I want."

"And what's to say you wouldn't use the blood you used against Makoto from the inside?" Kyoko asked, still not trusting Syo completely.

She feigned being hurt with a hand to her chest, "Oh, you wound me with your freezing words, Ice Queen." As Bad Blood retreated back into Syo, scabbing up the gash in her arm, Syo continued speaking, "You don't have to worry about that, once my blood is detached from Bad Blood I no longer have any control of it."

"I guess that's some assurance," Makoto noted, still feeling his newly reattached arm.

"You know, you guys should really appreciate the position I'm in now," Syo said, getting everyone's attention, "I just successfully reattached someone's arm in seconds, surgeons got nothing on that shit! Not to mention, O negative and infinite blood source, I'm a walking blood bank here for any of you injured jerks."

"In other words, I'm the healer in this party bitch! You fuckers need me if you all want to live."

"... My god she's right," Sayaka realized, "We actually do need her, her Stand is a lifesaver for everyone."

"Ironic for a well known serial killer," Kyoko stated before looking over at Celeste's unconscious body, "What should we do with her?"

Hifumi was the one who spoke up, "I believe it would be best if you all leave now, I imagine today was more extreme than usual. I'll explain the situation to Ms. Ludenberg when she wakes up, however I imagine she may choose to remain neutral during this situation."

"Figured as much, unless it benefits her Celeste will mostly be on the sidelines," Makoto sighed.

"Can I still cut her for trapping me in that damn card?" Syo asked.

"No!"

"All of you are no fun."

Everyone but Hifumi exited the dorm room and separated into their own respective dorms, with the exception of Makoto and Kyoko. Makoto was about to head to his dorm room, but was stopped when Kyoko lightly smacked the back of his head, "Ow, what was that for?"

"For your earlier recklessness," she scolded, "I've warned you before about it getting you into trouble and I believe my point was proven."

"Well what was I supposed to do, do nothing as you got hurt?" Makoto countered, "I'm sorry Kyoko, but I just can't sit back when there is something I can do to help."

"I understand that, I'm just asking to think more about what could happen," she clarified, "If it wasn't for Syo, your arm would be gone."

"Ok yes, I did get into some serious trouble I admit, but I can't help it, alright," he explained, "I don't want to see any of my friends hurt, especially you Kyoko."

Kyoko took a breath as she moved some of her behind her ear, "This may sound like I don't appreciate what you did, but I am thankful for you saving me. Just, be more careful please."

Makoto smiled and nodded in agreement to her request. He was about to enter his dorm before Kyoko grabbed him by his arm, the one that hadn't been cut off, and dragged him away from the dorms, "Um Kyoko, where are we going?"

"Seeing Mikan," she answered, "Despite what Syo said, I rather have her check your arm out then relying on the word of a crazed killer."

"I guess that makes sense, plus we should also probably check on Leon," he responded, now contempt with Kyoko dragging him to the school nurse.

\---

Byakuya sighed in annoyance as he shut the file he had been reading. Normally he didn't mind being cooped up in the Togami library, he spent a great deal of time alone reading the various files lined up. However, this time he found it as a waste of time as he has learned nothing of what he originally came for.

The only thing that Byakuya had learned was that the Joestar line was the most bizarre family that he has ever read about. To think that such a family could have a history as odd as this family has. Byakuya was at a loss of words from what he had just read.

He had concluded that the absurdity of this family began with Jonathan Joestar II, after their estate having mysteriously burned down, with Joseph and a young Speedwagon being the only survivors. It only got more bizarre to the prodigy when he read about how Jonathan was killed during his honeymoon from the boat he and his wife were on catching on fire, and Erina being the only one to survive along with her unborn child. Which led to the next bit of absurdity, and one that was a constant eyesore to Byakuya's eyes as he read, the grandson Joseph Joestar. From the file alone Byakuya could tell that Joseph had been an annoying pest in his early years. Nonetheless, he will admit that Joseph was an interesting man, despite his brash behavior it seemed like he had been good hearted. But what caught his eye was that after years of being inactive as a real estate agent in the U.S., he apparently met up with his grandson and traveled to Egypt for unknown reasons.

That was what really angered Byakuya, that a majority of the Joestar's history was not listed in the files. The Togami Corporation is one of the most influential companies in the world, if they wanted to find something they would find it. And yet, they were unable to find any major points about the family, which just frustrated him. What secrets could the Joestar family be hiding, that not even the Togami corporation could find it. And furthermore, how was Makoto connected?

Byakuya had hoped to learn about why Makoto had been associated with both the Speedwagon Foundation and the Joestar family, but the family history provided no new information. He was back at square one. Byakuya couldn't help but feel diminished, to think that someone as normal and naive as Makoto Naegi knows something that Byakuya doesn't, it was ludicrous. He was meant to be better than everyone at Hope's Peak, and yet the Ultimate Lucky Student was getting on his nerves.

Sighing in frustration, Byakuya got up from his seat and put away the file on the Joestars, now being unable to help him any further. As he proceeded to exit the library, there was one thing in the files that had caught Byakuya's interest, despite it not being related to his current predicament,

Dio Brando.

The name only appeared very few times during the portion on Jonathan Joestar, with Dio being his adoptive brother. However his name stopped appearing in the file shortly after the burning of the mansion. Byakuya could easily piece together that it was Dio who had caused it, the earlier portions of Jonathan showed very explicitly that the two did not get along well with one another. It was likely that Dio had died in the very fire he had caused, but it didn't sit right with the young heir. From the little he had read on Dio, he had seemed cunning and strategic. It was hard to believe he had fallen victim to his own trap.

Nevertheless, it doesn't pertain to what Byakuya was really interested in. Despite the Togami Library being unable to provide any new information, the heir had not given up on learning just what Makoto was hiding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After about three months of starting this chapter, it has finally been finished! My god, I am such a procrastinator. I put this story and so many others off for so long, but I was determined to finally get this done.
> 
> And this chapter has so far been my longest one to date, over 11,000 words! I imagine future chapters will be just as long, if not longer, so be prepared for even further delays to this story.
> 
> Anyways let us discuss the Stand for this chapter, On the Dime! Now as I am sure many of you notice, it is very similar to both Osiris and Atum. Well that was the direction I was going for, I mean with Celeste being a gambler and all, it seemed fitting. But in order to make it more different than those two, I made some changes. For one, unlike Osiris, which works for any gamble, On the Dime only works if the game is Poker which makes it situational.
> 
> However this ability is really only a secondary power, as On the Dime’s main ability is the power to manipulate the cards. This means that Celeste is able to change her opponent’s hands and her own, giving her complete control of the game. And as you saw On the Dime can even be used to use playing cards as weapons, either as a makeshift shuriken, or a bladed whip able to cut off limbs. I also designed the Stand so that it closely resembles a pale vampire, as remember Celeste’s dream is to be owner of a castle surrounded by vampire butlers, so I gave her one as a Stand. On the Dime’s name is derived from the 1980 song On the Nickel by Tom Waits.
> 
> And we also get to see more of Bad Blood and more of what it can do. Yeah Bad Blood isn’t only for Syo, it can be used to heal and repair anyone. This wouldn’t be possible if it weren’t for Toko’s blood type. The games actually say that her blood type is O, but just that. Doesn’t say if it's positive or negative. I just went with negative for the purpose of this ability.
> 
> Now admittedly with how I wrote On the Dime, I was having trouble figuring out how it would be defeated. But that was when I realized it, Celeste would defeat herself. By feeling over confident, thanks to a roll from Lucky Number, Celeste pretty much chose not to use her Stand against Makoto, leading to her downfall. Honestly, while I love writing the stands landing punch after punch, it's these kinds of victories that are the best.
> 
> And the last thing to talk about isn’t a Stand ability, but just something that Makoto can do, even if unintentionally. Whenever something bad is coming, his ahoge starts moving crazy, twitching and spinning as a way to warn Makoto. Why did I decide this, well because it fits the theme of Jojo’s. Even without Stands, there are individuals who have some unique ability of theirs, such as Yuya Fungami’s incredible sense of smell. I figured giving Makoto one of these bizarre abilities would fit well, and decided to give him this warning system of his.
> 
> Favorite part of this chapter would be Celeste’s defeat as Makoto explains it to her.
> 
> As always, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter and keep an eye out for the next one.
> 
> Sain’ofu.


End file.
